Rajasthan High Court Closes Advocate’s Missing Daughters Case After Girls Traced In Lucknow, Express Desire To Stay There To ‘Pursue Dreams’

Case: Shailendra Singh Shivmurti singh Thakur and Ors. v. The State of Maharashtra, with connected matters
Coram: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE V. K. JADHAV AND HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE SHRIKANT D. KULKARNI
Case No.: CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 64 OF 2014; with connected matters
Court Observation: The court upheld the life imprisonment awarded to five accused but enhanced
watchman Shiv Kumar Saket’s punishment on the State’s appeal as he had “betrayed the trust of his employer.”
“The respondents-accused persons have committed the crime with premeditation and it involves extreme brutality…They have committed gruesome, brutal murder of two middle aged helpless and hapless persons out of lust for money and ornaments. It was a pre-planned, calculated, cold blooded murder. This crime resulted in public abhorrence and shocked the judicial conscience and the conscience of the society.”
“The crime has been committed under no duress, nor on provocation. On the other hand, two innocent lives were snuffed out. The murders were gruesome, brutal and diabolic. The crime has been committed with extreme depravity and in a merciless manner. It falls in the category of rarest of rare case. In our considered opinion, it merits the death penalty to the extent of accused no.3 Shivkumar Ramsundar Saket. In the facts of the present case, age of accused no.3 Shivkumar Ramsundar Saket cannot be considered as a mitigating circumstance.”