Two get life term for murder of Meerut university professor
September 23rd, 2011 - 7:59 pm ICT by IANSGhaziabad, Sep 23 (IANS) A special CBI court here awarded life imprisonment to two people and a three-year jail to a third person held guilty in the 2006 murder of Meerut University professor Kavita Chaudhary.
The court awarded life term to Ravinder and Sultan for hatching a conspiracy, abducting the professor before killing her, destroying evidence, and extorting money from former state irrigation minister Merajuddin Ahmed.
The court awarded three-year jail term to Yogesh, the third person held guilty Yogesh.
On Thursday, Special CBI Judge A.K. Singh convicted Ravinder and Sultan for murder, abduction, conspiracy, extortion and causing disappearance of evidence. Yogesh was convicted for extortion and criminal conspiracy. Ashok, a fourth accused, was acquitted.
“Another accused, Ravinder Pradhan, died in the jail during trial,” said the senior public prosecutor.
Ahmed had to resign as minister after his name figured in the murder of the professor, who was abducted by five assailants Oct 23, 2006, from Garhmukteshwar.
Senior public prosecutor for CBI Ejaz Khan pleaded for capital punishment.
The CBI submitted its charge sheet on March 23, 2007, after the case was transferred to it for investigation Jan 12, 2007. During its investigation the CBI presented 33 witnesses. Of them three turned hostile including the Merajuddin, Ravinder and Amit alias Ashu.
The CBI charge sheet stated that Kavita had intimate relations with Merajuddin and made a CD showing her with him in a bedroom.
Ravinder and the other accused in the case, along with Kavita, then started blackmailing the minister to make their CD public, the charge sheet said. The five assailants then extorted Rs.35 lakh from Merajuddin. While Kavita received Rs.4 lakh from it, Ravinder Pradhan kept the major share with himself.
A dispute over sharing the money led to Kavita’s murder. The charge sheet also stated that Kavita was also in an intimate relationship with R.P Singh, the then vice chancellor of Choudhary Charan Singh University.
She also had close relations with Kiran Pal Singh and Babu Lal, both ministers in the Uttar Pradesh government from Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) quota, the charge sheet stated.
- Three convicted for professor's murder - Sep 22, 2011
- Bhanwari murder trial begins in Jodhpur - May 14, 2012
- Maderna mastermind in Bhanwari Devi muder: CBI charge sheet - Feb 29, 2012
- CBI arrests one more in missing nurse case - Dec 27, 2011
- Missing nurse case committed to trial, to start April 2 - Mar 27, 2012
- Court extends custody of ex-Rajasthan minister - Jan 20, 2012
- Bishnoi's bail plea rejected in Bhanwari case - May 26, 2012
- Missing nurse case: Court extends Maderna's custody - Dec 24, 2011
- Missing nurse's husband sent to judicial custody - Dec 22, 2011
- Aarushi case: Arguments on charges end, order Thursday (Lead) - May 23, 2012
- Nithari killings: Koli gets third death penalty (Lead) - Sep 28, 2010
- Bhanwari case: Court seeks action against threats to CBI - Feb 27, 2012
- Sohrabuddin case: CBI plea against Amit Shah bail in Supreme Court - Dec 14, 2010
- Husband of missing Rajasthan nurse arrested - Dec 08, 2011
- Missing nurse case: CBI searches legislator's house - Dec 14, 2011
Tags: abducted, alias, ashok, assailants, cbi court, criminal conspiracy, destroying evidence, ejaz khan, extortion, ghaziabad, intimate relations, intimate relationship, kavita, lakh, life imprisonment, meerut university, public prosecutor, ravinder, third person, university professor