Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 23: Principal Sessions Judge Jammu RN Watal has convicted Sanjeev Kumar in the Rahul Puri murder case and sentenced him to life imprisonment under Section 302 RPC, while also awarding three years’ simple imprisonment under Section 4/25 of the Arms Act, with both sentences to run concurrently.
The judgment was delivered by Principal Sessions Judge Jammu R N Watal in a case arising out of FIR No. 39/2016 of Police Station City, Jammu. The prosecution was conducted by Public Prosecutor Hemanshu Parkash, while the accused was represented by Advocate Anmol Sharma.
As per the prosecution case recorded by the court, both the accused and the deceased Rahul Puri had been working at the shop of Madan Lal Aggarwal and Brothers at Super Market, Jammu. The court noted that there had been animosity between the two, and on May 16, 2016, Sanjeev Kumar attacked Rahul with a kirch on the abdomen, causing grievous injuries. Rahul was initially treated at GMC Jammu and later shifted to PGI Chandigarh, where he succumbed on June 30, 2016.
The court relied upon eyewitness accounts, police testimony and medical evidence led during trial. The postmortem findings, as noticed in the judgment, attributed Rahul Puri’s death to septicemia with multi-organ failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome following the stab injury to the abdomen.
After holding the accused guilty, the court heard counsel on the question of sentence. Public Prosecutor Hemanshu Parkash sought capital punishment, arguing that the convict had committed a heinous offence in an inhuman manner. On the other hand, defence counsel Anmol Sharma sought leniency, submitting that the convict was not a habitual offender, was a young man and the sole breadwinner of his family.
While declining the prosecution’s plea for death sentence, the court observed that capital punishment can be awarded only in the “rarest of rare” cases and held that the present matter did not fall in that category. It accordingly sentenced the convict to undergo life imprisonment for the offence under Section 302 RPC and simple imprisonment for three years under the Arms Act.
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