The district court in Gondia has handed life imprisonment to three persons, including the husband of a pregnant Divyang woman, for murdering her in 2021 with sharp weapons.

Principal District and Sessions Judge A T Wankhede also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each on the prime accused Mohammad Samir Mohhamad Aslam Sheikh, and his two accomplices Asif Sherkhan Pathan (35) and Praful Pandurang Shivankar (25). Failure to pay the fine will attract a jail term of an additional six months.

The trio was convicted under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 302 (Punishment for murder), two days before the July 1 rollout of the Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita, which will replace the IPC.

According to the prosecution, Sheikh is a labourer with a criminal record. He had an affair with Sakhu alias Shital Shamrao Raut (30) and married her. However, he started avoiding her after she became pregnant and got engaged to another woman, leading to frequent fights between the couple.

To get rid of Raut, Sheikh conspired with Pathan and Shivankar. On June 22, 2021, Sheikh took Raut, who was 32 weeks pregnant, to a forested area on his bike in Gondia district where two others were lying in wait.

The trio attacked Raut with sharp weapons and dumped her body in the forest area, the prosecution said.

Police had registered a case of murder and subsequently arrested the three men within three weeks of the crime.

"20 witnesses were examined by the prosecution in the trial that continued for one year," Public Prosecutor Satish Ghode told PTI.

He said the prosecution nailed the accused based on their phone call records despite the absence of circumstantial evidence.

"Soon after committing the crime, they stopped communicating with each other, which helped the prosecution prove the charges," he added.

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