New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has upheld the life term awarded to a man for kidnapping and killing a five-year-old child, saying the prosecution has proved that the victim was last seen with him. A bench of justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Mukta Gupta concurred with the trial court verdict awarding life imprisonment to Bhairo Singh for killing Lakshay in 2009.
"Even though the prosecution has not been able to prove the motive and the conduct of absconsion of Bhairo Singh. However, in view of the last seen evidence, the death of Lakshay immediately after the time he had been taken away by the appellant having been proved by the post-mortem report, the recovery of his 'tabiz' and locket with the gold 'OM' and photo of 'babaji' in a black thread from the possession of the appellant, we find no reason to set aside the impugned judgement of conviction and order on sentence," the bench said.
The court lent credence to testimonies of the victim's sister and his neighbour to hold that it was the accused who had taken Lakshay on the pretext of giving him some toffees. Bhairo had approached the high court challenging the trial court's conviction and February 5, 2013 sentence order awarding him life term.
The trial court had also imposed a fine of Rs 8,000 on him. According to the prosecution, on October 13, 2009 while Lakshay was playing his sister, Bhairo took him along on the pretext of giving him some toffees. Bhairo was working at the shop of Lakshay's relative and was known to him. When the child did not return, a missing report was lodged by the boy's father Sushil Kumar.
On October 16, 2009, his body was recovered by the police from a drain outside a hospital. Later, a raid was conducted and Bhairo was apprehended by the police. During the trial, Bhairo had claimed that the items recovered from him were planted by the police and that he was innocent.
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