IAF ex-sergeant sentenced to death

A local court here has sentenced a former Indian Air Force sergeant to death for the murder of a 27-year-old corporal in February 2017.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Kanwaljeet Singh Bajwa sentenced Sailesh Kumar to death for the murder of Vipin Shukla of Uttar Pradesh when both were posted at Bhisiana Air Force Station. The verdict was pronounced on Friday, officials said.

The court also sentenced Kumar's wife to five years rigorous imprisonment for destruction of evidence.

The corporal had gone missing in February 2017. After thirteen days, his body was found chopped and packed in polythene bags, as per the police's investigation.

The sessions judge observed the accused, a member of the armed forces, should have shown courage in some other field, "in place of butchery".

He said, "It would be a mockery of justice and the conscience of society would be shocked, if death penalty was not awarded to him as his act was abhorrent and dastardly.

"This is surely a case which falls within the category of rarest of rare cases."
According to prosecuting advocate Sunil Tripathi, "We had sought it to be marked as rarest of rare case during the arguments to which the judge acceded."