RTI activist who faked own death gets life-term

An RTI activist who had faked his death in 2014 to live with his girlfriend in Bengaluru has been sentenced to life by a court in Greater Noida for killing a mentally challenged man.

The District and Sessions court, Surajpur also slapped a penalty of Rs 50,000 on Chandra Mohan with judge Niranjan Kumar holding him guilty of murder, tampering with evidence and fraud.

Mohan, aged around 45 years, had a bitter relationship with his wife and wanted to live with his girlfriend Preeti Nagar, in her 30s and had killed a mentally challenged man whose charred body was found inside the car of the accused, Harish Sisodia, assistant government counsel in the court said.

"Chandra Mohan's car was found charred on the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway in May 2014 and a badly burnt body was found inside. It was presumed that he had died. But in 2015 Chandra Mohan was arrested from Bengaluru where he was found living with Preeti under an assumed identity," the counsel said.

"Further probe revealed Chandra Mohan had picked up the desolate stranger on the highway, killed him and left him inside the car before setting it on fire," he added.

The court also awarded a six-month jail term to his girlfriend after she was found guilty under IPC section 202 (intentional omission to give information of offence by person bound to inform).

Mohan has also been sentenced jail terms ranging six months to 10 years for fraud, forgery of documents and criminal conspiracy, among others, with all punishments running concurrently.