Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (DV)
Mangaluru, Apr 23: The third additional district and sessions court on Saturday April 23 convicted and sentenced three persons to rigorous imprisonment for life for the murder of Sandeep Shetty which took place in November 2011. Eight other accused have been acquitted.
Sandeep Shetty (27), who was said to be an aide of underworld element Bannanje Raja, was brutally attacked by a gang of five or six persons near his in-laws' house at Someshwar.
Sandeep Shetty
Keshava alias Chony (convict)
On November 13, 2011, Sandeep, his wife, son and in-laws had been to a function at his wife's sister's house. Sandeeep and his in-laws returned the same night, but his wife and child stayed back. At around 10.10 pm, he got phone call from someone asking him to come out of the house. When he came out and was talking on the phone, about five six persons attacked him brutally and fled the spot. Sandeep was rushed to a private hospital where he breathed his last the same night.
As per a complaint filed in Ullal police station by Sandeep's father-in-law Hemachandra, the gang also entered the house and attacked him.
Two days after the murder, six of the accused surrendered before the police.
There were 11 accused in the case, out of whom Keshava alias Chony (25) from Someshwar, Preetesh alias Preetu (22), a resident of Montepadavu, Bantwal, and Avinash Bajalakere (30), a resident of Talapady have been convicted.
The three have been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 302 (murder) and ordered to pay Rs 10,000 each as penalty.
Also, they have have been sentenced to 6 months in jail and penalty of Rs 500 each under Section 143 (unlawful assembly) and failure to pay the fine would amount to another five months in jail. Under Section 147 (rioting), they have been awarded two years in jail and Rs 1,500 each as fine, failure to pay which will invite another year in prison. Under Section 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), they will serve three years in jail and pay Rs 2,000 each as fine, and another two years in jail if they fail to pay the fine. Under Section 447 (criminal tresspass), they have been sentenced to three months in jail and Rs 500 each as fine, and one more month in jail on failure to pay. Under Section 448 (house-trespass), they have been awarded one year in jail and Rs 1,000 each as fine, failure to pay which will mean another 6 months in jail.
The court also ordered that as per Section 357 of Karnataka State Victims' Compensation Scheme, the penalty has to be paid to the victim's wife and son.
Other eight accused in the case, namely Nishant of Thokkotu, Bhushan of Someshwar, Sandesh alias Sandu of Someshwar, Suraj of Madyar in Kotekar, Chetan of Kolya, Rajesh of Kuthar, Guruprasad, a resident of Hosabettu, Kulai and Chandrahasa of Kotekar were acquitted.
There were a total of 41 witnesses in the case, out of which 39 were questioned. Intially, the murder was suspected to have been a result of gang rivalry, but it is now said that land dispute was the cause. One of the convicted, Keshava alias Chony, happens to be a relative of Sandeep.
Inspector Sanjeeva Naik was the investigation officer intially, and after his transfer, Manjunath Shetty filed the charge sheet in the court naming the 11 as accused.
Advocate Narayan Shettigar U was the public prosecutor in the case.