Jigisha's parents demand death for her murderers

"Hang them for their brutal act, they did not kill Jigisha but killed our emotions" -- the sobbing parents of IT executive Jigisha Ghosh demanded after a court on Thursday held three men guilty of kidnapping and killing their daughter seven years ago.

"I am satisfied with today's court order," Jigisha's mother Sabita Ghosh told IANS outside court room number 306 of Saket district courts complex after Ravi Kapoor, Amit Shukla and Baljit Singh Malik were convicted.

The men were convicted under charges dealing with murder, destruction of evidence, kidnapping or abduction in order to murder, voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery, forgery and common intention in the murder case.

Jigisha, 28, who was working with Hewitt Associate Pvt Ltd as operations manager, was kidnapped and killed on March 18, 2009 after her office cab dropped her near her home in south Delhi's Vasant Vihar around 4 a.m.

Her body was recovered on March 20, 2009 from a place near Surajkund in Haryana.

Sabita took a deep breath of relief soon after the verdict was announced and said that finally they got justice.

But she broke down while talking to mediapersons outside the court room.

"Hang them (the convicts). They do not deserve leniency. They did not kill Jigisha but also killed our emotions," she told IANS.

"Jigisha was my only daughter. After her death I and my husband are only breathing, but not living."

Sabita said that she could not have sound sleep after the death of her daughter.

Jigisha's father J.N. Ghosh with tears in his eye said that he and his wife have undergone mental tension and were living in trauma.

"Our life is meaningless without the presence of my daughter," Ghosh told IANS.

A retired Deputy Director in the Health Ministry, Ghosh said that he always misses his daughter.

"After her death, I am living in fear and sometimes we get some threatening calls from unknown callers."

He said that it make them more scared.

"However, Delhi Police support helps us to maintain our confidence," he said and appreciated the police for assisting in the case.

He also thanked special public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan for giving his service in the case and said: "Without Mohan's effort, the case would not have meet its real destiny."

Jigisha killers are also facing trial in the murder case of journalist Soumya Vishwanathan, who was shot dead on September 30, 2008.

Soumya Vishwanathan's parents were also present in the court room where the verdict was announced.

Vishwanathan's mother told IANS that she welcomes Thursday's court order on the Jigisha murder case.

"It has given me hope that justice will also be delivered in my daughter's death case, which is now in the stage of recording statements of prosecution witnesses," Vishwanathan's mother said.

(Amiya Kumar Kushwaha can be reached at amiya.k@ians.in)

--IANS

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