A man has been awarded life term by a Delhi court for stabbing to death his wife's ex-husband as he feared the victim would take away his wife.
Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav handed down the jail term to Munirka resident Amit Kumar for the offence of murder under section 302 of the IPC, relying on the testimony of victim Sujit's brother Barjeet, who was an eye witness.
The court also relied on the post mortem report of the victim, weapon of offence which was recovered and other forensic evidence.
During the trial, the court refused to accept the testimony of the mother of the accused, saying she was a "close relative" and an "interested witness".
"Convict has been found guilty of committing murder of Sujit by hitting him with scooter and by repeatedly stabbing him with knife on neck. The injured died in hospital shortly after receiving injuries at the hand of convict.
"Motive for murder was the apprehension in the mind of convict that Sujit could take away or snatch his wife Jyoti from him," the judge said.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on him and made a recommendation to District Legal Service Authority for compensation to the dependents of the victim, saying "Family members of deceased Sujit including his son have suffered not only emotionally but also financially and need to be compensated".
While convicting Amit, the court rejected his contention that there were no public witnesses.
"The most important witness i.E brother of deceased, who witnessed the incident, was made a witness not only to the arrest of accused but also on the recovery of knife and scooter, at the instance of accused.
"Therefore, there was on point in including other public person in the investigation who has not seen the incident and who would not have deposed much about the case," it said.
According to the prosecution, Sujit had married Jyoti in 2004 but she left him and married Amit in 2008 due to which there was enmity between the men.
On November 10, 2009, Barjeet lodged a complaint against Amit alleging that he killed his brother Sujit by hitting him with his scooter and then stabbing him with a knife.
In his statement before the court, Amit had denied the allegations levelled against him and claimed that he was falsely implicated in the case.
