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Mafia Don Babloo Srivastava gets lifer for murder
Using its "discretion" to overcome the hurdle of witnesses turning hostile, a trial court on Monday sentenced notorious don Babloo Srivastava and co-accused Nitin Shah to life in prison for masterminding the August 1992 murder of businessman Lalit Suneja over a financial dispute.Unlike the Jessica Lal case in which the court rejected the statements of hostile witnesses lock, stock and barrel additional sessions judge Rajender Kumar, in his 37-page judgment, took into account the statements of such witnesses to the extent they were favourable to the prosecution's case. For establishing the accuseds motive and subsequent guilt, the judge relied upon a number of psychologists and their interpretation of human behaviour in specific situations. Delving into aspects of human behaviour along with the strong circumstantial evidence against the duo in particular Srivastava's criminal antecedents the court remarked, "Lalit Suneja had apprehended danger to his life. The accused were alleged to have threatened him. Considering the basic instincts and behaviour of a human being in particular circumstances, in my opinion an ordinary prudent person could have presumed only the assertion that both the accused were responsible in the killing of Suneja." The sentence was awarded under section 302 (murder) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and the duo was also slapped with a fine of Rs 20,000 each. A strong circumstantial evidence which went against the accused was the record of their meeting with Suneja in a city hotel, recovered from the entry register of the hotel. The accused met Suneja to pressure him for a compromise on the financial dispute he had with Shah. Posted by: john 2006-07-03 |
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