Gurugram, Feb 6 (IANS): A court here on Thursday held Mahipal Singh, the former Personal Security Officer (PSO) of an Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ), guilty of murdering the judge's wife and son in 2018.
The incident dates back to October 13, 2018 when Singh in a fit of rage following a heated argument shot dead then ASJ Krishna Kant's wife Ritu Kant and son Dhruva Kant outside the Arcadia shopping complex here in Sector 49.
Singh was terminated from service following the incident that has been described as "a cold blooded act carried out in sudden provocation triggered by a minor verbal spat".
In a hearing on Thursday, ASJ Sudhir Parmar of Gurugram district court declared him guilty after hearing the arguments of both the defence and prosecution lawyers. The quantum of punishment would be announced on Friday.
The shocking footage of the daylight double murder went viral after onlookers had filmed it and later posted on the social media.
Vishal Gupta, the prosecution lawyer, said: "We have strong evidence including video footage and reports of forensic and ballistic experts that would help to nail him. There were 62 eyewitnesses who have recorded their statements in the court."
"The hearing of this case was done through physical appearance as well as video conference," Gupta said.
Explaining the sequence of events, the prosecution lawyer said that on October 13, 2018, the ASJ's spouse and his son after returning from the shopping complex did not find Mahipal Singh near their car.
After a while when Mahipal came back, Dhruva sought the car's key to place the purchased items inside the vehicle.
Meanwhile, some heated exchanges took place in the short period of "taking the car's key and boarding the car" which provoked Mahipal to shoot both.
The interrogators later claimed that the relation between ASJ Krishna Kant, his family members and Mahipal was "very healthy".
The heated exchange of words triggered Mahipal to first open fire at Dhruva, and then at the ASJ's wife Ritu Kant when she tried to save her son. Mahipal, after shooting them, could be seen in the viral videos kicking and punching them.
"The accused happens to be a policeman having responsibility to protect a family... but he turned out to be a killer. It is a heinous crime and we will urge the court for maximum punishment," Gupta said.