8 get death penalty for murdering West Bengal college student in 2014
Kolkata: A Kolkata court on Tuesday handed death sentence to eight people and life term to one convicted for the murder of a college student, Sourav Chowdhury in 2014.
The 21-year-old student of Mrinalini Dutta College in Birati was brutally murdered following his abduction in the early hours of July 5, 2014 because he had organised a protest against illicit hooch dens run by Shyamal, a local miscreant, in the locality.
Later, the dismembered body of Sourav was found lying on railway tracks in between Bamangachhi and Duttapukur stations, triggering a statewide uproar.
Pronouncing the judgement, Seventh Additional District Judge, Barasat, Daman Prasad Biswas, also awarded five year jail terms to three persons, including a woman. Those sentenced to death are Shyamal Karmakar, Suman Sarkar, Suman Das, Amal Barui, Somnath Sardar, Tapas Biswas, Ratan Samaddar and Tarak Das.
Sourav's family had been demanding the death penalty for the accused and his kin, friends and neighbours had taken out a rally in the court premises last week. “We want all the convicts be hanged,” Sourav’s father had said.
Last week on Friday, the Barasat court had convicted 12 persons, including main accused Shyamal Karmakar in the case.
Probing the case, the police had arrested 14 accused out of 15 and chargesheeted them with the depositions of 41 witnesses in September of 2014.
"Nine accused — Shyamal Karmakar, Suman Sarkar, Suman Das, Somnath Sardar, Amal Barui, Tapas Biswas, Tarak Biswas, Rakesh Burman and Ratan Samaddar — were held guilty by seventh additional district judge Daman Prosad Biswas of Sections 364 (abduction for murder), 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of evidence) and 34 (common intention) the Indian Penal Code (IPC),” the public prosecutor said.
“Shyamal was also convicted of Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act. Three other accused — Shishir Mukherjee, Poly Maity, now on bail, and Ratan Das — were found guilty of Section 212 (harbouring the offenders). One accused, Anup Talukdar, was acquitted while another, Uttam Shikari, turned approver with one more accused still absconding,” he had added.
