Maha: Two get life imprisonment in triple murder case

A local court on Tuesday sentenced two persons to life imprisonment till death for killing three women of a family in Maharashtra's Sangli district in 2015.

The judgement is significant as a 12-year-old boy, who survived the attack by hiding behind a door, was the only eyewitness in the case, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said.

Additional Sessions Judge D P Satvalekar awarded life imprisonment till death to Sudhir Sadashiv Ghorpade and Ravindra Ramchandra Kadam for killing three relatives of the husband of Ghorpade's sister Vidyarani, he said.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh each on the convicts.

"During the case trail, the boy's brave deposition turned out to be crucial. We examined 21 witnesses and on the basis of the 12-year-old's eyewitness account and circumstantial evidence, the entire case led to the conviction," Nikam said, adding that he had sought death penalty for the two convicts.

According to the prosecution, Ghorpade and Kadam killed three relatives of Vidyarani's husband at Hivre village in Khanapur taluka of Sangli in June 2015.

Vidyarani, who was married to Balwant Shinde, ended her life by consuming poison in 2009 due to domestic disputes, following which her family registered a case of abetment to suicide against her in-laws.

However, a court later acquitted her in-laws of all charges, which angered her brother Ghorpade.

On June 21, 2015, Ghorpade, Kadam and a minor went to the house of Balwant Shinde's uncle and hacked to death three women - Prabhavati Shinde, Nishigandha Shinde and Sunita Shinde.

Ghorpade was angry with the family of the three women for helping Vidyarani's in-laws in the suicide abetment case, a police official said.