A local court in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur on Saturday sentenced eight people involved in the 2007 kidnapping of the 23-year-old son of a prominent doctor in the district to life imprisonment. The accused was arrested while trying to collect the ransom demanded to release the victim.
A ninth accused was sentenced to five years in prison for his involvement in the police encounter, although investigators found no evidence linking him to the kidnapping.
All the nine accused, who were released on bail, appeared in court on Saturday.
“After being convicted by the court, all the nine were taken into custody and sent to jail. The accused are local residents and had no previous relationship with the victim,” said Sanjeev Kumar Singh, Additional District Public Prosecutor, Shahjahanpur.
During the hearing of the case, the police presented the statements of eight prosecution witnesses.
According to the prosecution, the case dates back to August 2, 2007, when the victim, Paras Mehrotra, along with his brother Vineet Mehrotra and a friend, were abducted while riding a motorcycle. They were going to drop Paras Mehrotra in South City area for some work. As they approached the district hospital, the assailants who came from behind on another motorcycle forced Paras Mehrotra to fire a gun.
Vineet Mehrotra immediately reached the Kotwali police station and registered an FIR against the unknown assailants. The kidnappers later demanded a ransom of Rs 1 crore for the release of Paras Mehrotra.
According to the plan made by the police, Paras Mehrotra’s brothers Vineet Mehrotra and Amit Mehrotra were sent to deliver the ransom. The police arrested the kidnapper when he came to collect the money. Based on their information, the police arrested the other accused and rescued Paras Mehrotra from the farm.
The police found 11 people involved in the crime, out of which 2 died during the trial.