Serial killer gets death penalty for beheading victim

Jha's modus operandi was to behead and chop the body parts of the victims leading to their death. He then dumped the headless bodies outside Tihar Jail.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Kamini Lau said, "He be hanged by the neck till he is dead" for taking away the life of 19-year-old Upender as his brutality showed he does not possess "basic humanness".

"Aapko Sazaae maut sunayi gayi hai ise mukadame me (You have been awarded death penalty in this case)," the judge told 46-year-old Jha, who looked nervous in the court during the time of sentencing, when he came in front near the dais.

The court also said there was a probability that Jha, a native of Madhepura in Bihar, would again commit a similar act of violence and constitute a continuing threat to the society, that is, the challenge and threats which he had given to the system to nab him stating that he will send similar gifts (decapitating bodies) after every 15 days.

"The convict is a menace to the society and the manner in which he has engaged himself into senseless serial killings shows that he is beyond reform.

"Certain category of perpetrators of crime who if not removed from the circulation of the society would destroy it," the court said. It also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on Jha.

Jha, who has sought the copy of judgment in Hindi, was today sentenced to death in the second of the three murder cases in which he has been convicted.

Yesterday, he was sentenced by the same court to life imprisonment till his death in another case of murder, in which also he had chopped off the head and limbs of the victim and had dumped the body near Tihar Jail here.

Public Prosecutor P K Verma said that in this case, on the intervening night of April 24-25, 2007, Jha had chopped the head, hands, legs and private parts of Upender, who was residing with him, leading to his death. (More)