Maha: Eight get life term for 2002 murder of NCP corporator

Eight members of a criminal gang were sentenced to life imprisonment today by the district and sessions court in Aurangabad for murdering an NCP corporator in 2002.

Three others were acquitted for want of evidence in murdering Saleem Qureshi.

Additional District and Sessions Court Judge V V Pail found main accused Shaikh Imran Shaikh Nazeer alias Imran Mehendi and seven others guilty under section 302 (punishment for murder) r/w 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code for their role in the crime.

According to prosecution, Mehendi and his accomplices had abducted Qureshi over old enmity from near Roxy Talkies in the city on March 5, 2012 and subsequently killed him.

The gang then abandoned Qureshi's car on a road in Sillekhana area.

Qureshi's body was later found buried in Padegaon area.

Police later booked the gang members under stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) and filed a chargesheet against them.

The court examined 66 witnesses during the trial.

Police personnel were deployed in a large number on the premises of the court in view of the verdict.

Mehendi and others are facing charges of murder in more than five cases, according to prosecution.

These cases have not yet come to trial stage.