2012 NRI kidnapping case convicts get relief from HC

Dropping ransom charges, high court turns life sentence into 10-year jail for the six Haryana men who were convicted by UT court in 2016

CHANDIGARH: Dropping the ransom charges against six persons convicted in an NRI kidnapping case, the Punjab and Haryana high court has reduced their punishment from life sentence to 10-year jail term.

The case dates back to April 2012 when Canadian NRI Navneet Singh Chatha, who was visiting the city and residing in Sector 18, was kidnapped and taken to a farm house in Kurukshetra.

As per the prosecution, the convicts made the victim call his brother in Canada and ask for Rs 1 crore citing a land deal. Navneet made the call but dropped a hint due to which his brother got suspicious and informed the police from Canada. The victim used to call his brother “Ginnu” or “Garry” but on the fateful day, he addressed him by his full name Gurneet Singh Chatha and asked for the money.

A UT crime branch team had

rescued the NRI within 24 hours of kidnapping, after conducting a raid in which exchange of fire also took place. The police had arrested six persons, identified as Pradeep Malik, 31, Sanjeev Kumar alias Soni, 36, Anil Kumar, 37, Ajit Singh, 28, Nitin, 28, and Sukhdev, 38, on charges of kidnapping, robbery and wrongful confinement.

All the convicts hail from different districts of Haryana. They were convicted by the trial court and awarded life sentence

in September 2016.

‘NO EVIDENCE OF RANSOM CALLS’

The high court bench of justice Jitendra Chauhan and justice Archana Puri, while modifying the trial court order, observed that there is absolutely no evidence of ransom calls made to the NRI’S brother in Canada even as mobile numbers of all the accused were recovered. “In the light of the same, phono-connectivity as asserted (by prosecution), does not stand established. Consequently, the demand of ransom amount, as such does not stand proved,” the bench said while dropping the charges of ransom demand. Kidnapping entails a jail term of 10 years but for demanding ransom upon kidnap, a person can be awarded a life or even death sentence.

On the kidnapping charges, the bench said the abduction stands amply established, even though the victim had propertydealing interaction with one of the accused and had voluntarily gone with him in a car. The other accused had joined in later and threatened the NRI with a gun and taken to Kurukshetra, where he was confined in a room in a farmhouse.

The UT police had also recovered Rs 12.5 lakh, 300 Canadian dollars, a Honda Accord car robbed from the victim, and a Maruti Swift Dzire car robbed from a person in Panchkula. The victim had appeared through video conferencing, claiming threat to his life.