FIRST TIME in the history of Indore District Court awoman was awarded capital punishmentNeha Verma, Rahul Choudhary &Manoj Atodh entered the Deshpande ’sresidence with the purpose of robbery and killed the three
Indore: Nearly two- and- half- year after the sensational triple murder took place in a posh colony here wherein three female members of a family were killed in cold blood, a Special Court on Friday awarded capital punishment to all the three accused in the case, including a girl.
This is for the first time in the history of Indore District Court that a woman was awarded death punishment. It’s also for the first time that a single court in Indore awarded maximum punishment to three persons in the same case.
“ Neha Verma ( 23), Rahul Choudhary ( 24) and Manoj Atodh ( 32) were held guilty under Section 302, 397 and 449 of the IPC. Besides, Manoj was also held guilty under Section 25 of the Arms Act,” Public Prosecutor Ravindra Gaur said.
The trio murdered Ashlesha Deshpande ( 21), her mother Megha ( 42) and grand- mother Rohini Phadke ( 70) in a gruesome attack in Srinagar on June 19, 2011.After a few days of incident, all the three accused were arrested and a pistol and two knives, the booty and two ATM cards were recovered from their possession.
The Public Prosecutor said that mastermind of the murder was Neha Verma, who along with her boyfriend, Rahul and Manoj hatched the plan of loot and murder.Neha, a salesgirl for beauty products, had met Megha Deshpande ( 42) in Orbit two days before the killings. The accused noticed that Megha was wearing expensive jewellery and befriended her on the pretext of being a company agent.
She took Megha’s phone number and address and later that night hatched a plot to rob the Deshpande household with Rahul and Manoj.On June 19, 2011 Neha along with two of her accomplices went to the residence of the Deshpande at Srinagar Colony and murdered all the three inmates of the house.
Her accomplices shot at and stabbed inmates of the house before decamping with cash and valuables worth Rs 1.5 lakh.The police got a lead after they learnt that Rahul, who accidentally fired at his foot while committing the crime, got himself admitted to a local hospital.Special Court judge DN Mishra handed down the death sentence.
58- page chargeesheet, 36 witnesses
Police had presented 58- page chargesheet in the court wherein the motive of murder was cited greed for money. The chargesheet stated that the trio accused wanted to make quick bucks and chose the way of crime. Neha wanted to settle down with her boyfriend Rahul. She was fascinated to luxurious life style and to fulfill her dream she had identified Megha as a target at Orbit Mall when she was wearing a heavy gold ornaments. The accused had executed the crime after consuming a cocktail of sedative durgs, whisky and beer. As many as 36 witnesses were presented before the court in the case.
The judge
Terming the crime as ” rarest of the rare”, the judge in his 44- page judgment said: ” For the greed of some rupees, three hapless women of a family were killed in a very cruel manner…. the culprits deserve no mercy.” The judge noted that the victims were shot, and stab wounds covered their entire bodies.
