TCS techie murder: Killers awarded life term

New Delhi, Oct 13 (PTI) A special court here has given life sentence to a Delhi College of Engineering alumnus Sashank Jadon and his accomplice - former cab driver Manoj Kumar - for killing a TCS software engineer Ankit Chauhan in Noida in 2015, officials said.

The court said that Jadon was a young, qualified engineer, but the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances in this case. It cited the young age of the victim, who was newly married when he was murdered, and the suffering of his family.

The court also slapped a fine of Rs 70,000 and Rs 50,000 on Jadon and Kumar, respectively, they said.

The duo were held guilty by the Special Court on September 20 for killing Chauhan, who was chased and shot dead on April 13, 2015, at Sector 76 of Noida when Jadon was trying to rob his Fortuner Car.

The quantum of punishment was decided on Monday when the court sentenced them to life imprisonment, as it did not consider it to be a "rarest of rare" crime.

According to the probe into the sensational case, Jadon was trying to rob a Toyota Fortuner when he spotted Chauhan with the specific vehicle they were looking for.

Jadon, who purportedly scored above 90 per cent in XII, went on to earn a B.Tech degree, following which he dabbled in real estate, where he incurred heavy losses. He reportedly took loans from his friend Pawan Kumar, a co-accused who has since died, but could not repay him.

Kumar gave the idea to steal an SUV and sell it to his friend to recover losses.

On the day of the crime, Chauhan was returning home from Sector 135, Noida, in his brand new Fortuner with a temporary number plate along with Gagan Dudhoriya, the sole witness of the crime, when his Fortuner car was overtaken and stopped by a Honda Accord car.

Two people came out of the Honda Accord and shot at Chauhan, who suffered fatal injuries. He was rushed to Kailash Hospital, where he was declared "brought dead".

"Shashank Jadon chose the path of crime to earn quick money instead of relying upon his impressive qualifications. He was able to evade the investigation agencies for more than two years," Special Judge Jyoti Kler noted in the judgement convicting him on September 20.

After taking over the probe, CBI sleuths came across a registration UP-14AB-2200 which was assigned to a white colour Honda Accord.

Since the number was very close to UP-14BA-2300, the Honda Accord identified at the scene of crime, the CBI pursued to identify the owner.

"This led the CBI to Shashank Jadon, who was arrested on June 01, 2017. He disclosed the involvement of co-accused Manoj Kumar @ Thekedar @ Mistri. On the basis of his disclosure, accused Manoj Kumar was arrested on June 2, 2017," the court said.

It said Jadon and Kumar also disclosed about the involvement of a third person, namely, Pankaj Kumar alias Pankaj Raghav, who had already expired nearly a year before these arrests.

"In this case, the victim, who was murdered, was a young engineer who had got married just a month before the incident. The convicts are also of a young age. Convict Shashank Jadon is also a qualified engineer, having a sound background," Judge Kler noted on Monday while handing over the life imprisonment to the convicts.

The offence was committed in a bid to rob the Fortuner Car in which the victim was travelling along with his friend Dudhoriya, the court said.

"The manner of commission of offence does not fall in the category of rarest of rare cases as defined in Machhi Singh (supra)", Special Judge Jyoti Kler said.

Handing over the life term, the Judge said the court cannot lose sight of the fact that the offence was committed in broad daylight on a national highway, which reflects fearlessness and utter disregard for the law of the land.

"The convicts are of a young age which certainly is a mitigating factor; however, the young age of the victim also cannot be forgotten who left behind his old-aged parents and a young widow. Court cannot lose sight of the sufferings that the family of the victim has undergone," the Judge held.

Judge Kler said the aggravating circumstances certainly outweigh the mitigating circumstances in this case, and the court is of the considered view that the case calls for imprisonment for the maximum prescribed term.

The CBI Spokesperson said in a statement that the investigation of the murder case was transferred to the agency by the Allahabad High Court, and the same was registered on June 14, 2016.

"The deceased Ankit Chauhan, a software engineer working with Tata Consultancy Services, was fatally shot and killed in his Fortuner Car by unidentified accused persons. After a detailed investigation, CBI unearthed the crime and arrested the accused persons, Shashank Jadon and Manoj Kumar, on June 01, 2017 and June 2, 2017, respectively," she said.

The Spokesperson said CBI filed a chargesheet against Jadon and Kumar for the offences of murder, attempted robbery, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence before the Jurisdictional Court at Ghaziabad on August 29, 2017.

"Notably, the trial of the case was transferred from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh to New Delhi by the Supreme Court on August 02, 2019," she said. PTI ABS RT RT