Two get life imprisonment in 2014 murder case

Thane: Two labourers from the powerloom town of Bhiwandi here have been sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court for killing their employer in 2014. Additional Sessions Judge PP Jadhav convicted Venugopal Kankayya Rasmal, 28 and Ambadas Chadramohan Porandala, 30 on Saturday. The two were also handed out varying terms of imprisonment for other offences and fined Rs 10,000 each. The court said all the sentences would run concurrently. Prosecutor Vineet A Kulkarni told the court that the two worked for Rajeshyam Kusma, who used to obtain contracts for filling yarn on beams used in powerloom factories.

The incident took place on September 29, 2014 and the body of the victim was found bundled in a gunny bag near Saileela building, where the accused was residing on rent. The accused killed Rajeshyam by strangulating him using a rope and disposed off his body in gunny bag in order to screen themselves. Also, they tried to sell his belongings including a motorcycle and a mobile. They also wanted to know how to operate the ATM card of the victim, the prosecution told the court.

Their landlord Krushna Kallepelli was the prosecution witness in the case. The accused had tried to sell the bike and mobile to Krushna's son, the prosecution said. Defence counsel SJ Patankar submitted that the accused were very young and hence sought leniency and minimum punishment for them. However, the court turned down the request and before announcing the verdict, observed, "the accused have committed murder of their employer. They have killed an innocent person without any provocation and attempted to screen themselves from offence by disposing off the body. They further misappropriated his valuables."