UP court sentences two to death for killing Maharashtra woman, three children

Bahraich, Sep 27 (PTI) A court in Bahraich district of Uttar Pradesh on Friday sentenced two persons to death for killing a woman and her three children from Maharashtra after luring them here three years ago.

The third accused in the case was a minor at the time of the incident and his trial is pending in juvenile court.

In his order, Additional Sessions Judge Pawan Kumar Sharma said that the convicts, Nanku and Salman, be hanged till death.

The order will now be sent to the Allahabad High Court for confirmation and then the punishment can then be executed.

According to the prosecution, Nanku, a resident of Telian Purwa village under the Fakharpur police station area here, met the victim, Mary Kashi Katrayan, while working at a restaurant in Diva in Maharashtra's Thane district.

Katrayan, the mother of three children, had separated from her husband and was also working at the same restaurant.

The prosecution said that Nanku promised to marry Katrayan and convinced her to sell her house. He kept Rs 4 lakh for himself. As Katrayan pressured him to marry her, Nanku, along with Salman and a minor friend, hatched a plan to kill her and her children -- Rajati (11), Joseph (7) and Saundarya (4).

On September 9, 2021, Nanku took Katrayan and her children to Bahraich by train and after reaching there, he and his friends brutally murdered the four by slitting their throats and disposed of their bodies at different places. Katrayan's head was cut off, it said.

After committing the crime, the three returned to Maharashtra at different times. The four bodies were found within 24 hours of the crime and a probe into the matter led police to Nanku and his friends. The three were arrested and they confessed to the crime, according to the prosecution.

Former district government counsel Munnu Lal Mishra argued the case on behalf of the prosecution before retiring in May 2024.

"After my retirement, the current District Government Counsel Girish Chandra Shukla and Additional Government Advocate Pramod Singh pleaded the case in court. On Friday, Additional Sessions Judge (First) Pawan Kumar Sharma sentenced Nanku and Salman to death," Mishra said.

The third accused in the case was a minor at the time of the incident and his trial is pending before the juvenile court, he said. PTI COR NAV DIV DIV