Bareilly, Oct 9 A court in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district has sentenced five men to life imprisonment for the 2016 murder of a farmer over a dispute linked to a village head election, and imposed a total fine of Rs 1.55 lakh on them, a prosecution official said on Friday.
Sessions Judge Pradeep Kumar Singh pronounced the verdict on Thursday, convicting Jameel Ahmed Khan alias Guddu, Hiroz Khan, Rahmat Khan, Tahir Khan and Nabi Raja Khan in the murder of farmer Fatte Khan.
District Government Counsel Reet Ram Rajput said the dispute stemmed from the 2016 gram pradhan election in Nirgua Gauntia village in the Shergarh area. Fatte Khan's mother, Khatoon Begum, had lost the election, following which tensions escalated between the rival groups.
The rivalry intensified after Babu Khan, a former fair-price shop dealer, was murdered. His body was found near the railway tracks close to Bhojipura railway station. Fatte Khan and his brother Misryar were accused in that case. While Misryar was jailed, Fatte Khan left the village.
Three days after Babu Khan's murder, Fatte Khan was killed when he was returning to the village on a motorcycle, according to the prosecution.
According to the case, on March 13, 2016, Fatte Khan was working in a field with his brother Male Khan and other family members when the five accused allegedly attacked him with sticks. They dragged him out of the field, strangled him with a scarf and concealed his body in bushes, the prosecution said.
Male Khan and other family members subsequently raised an alarm and sought help from villagers, who reached the spot and found Fatte Khan's body.
The post-mortem examination indicated strangulation, injuries to the neck and a fractured bone in the throat region, according to the case details.
The prosecution filed a chargesheet against the five accused. The court sentenced all of them to life imprisonment and imposed a cumulative fine of Rs 1.55 lakh, including a direction to pay Rs 1 lakh to the victim's family, the prosecution official said.
