All 3 accused held guilty of 4-year-old Shimla boy’s murder

SHIMLA: More than four years after 4-year-old Yug Gupta, son of a businessman, was kidnapped and murdered in the Kelston area of Shimla, the district and sessions court here on Monday held all three accused — Chander Sharma, Tajender Singh and Vikrant Bakshi — guilty of the crime.

The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on August 13, said district and sessions judge Virender Singh.

Yug was kidnapped on June 14, 2014, by his neighbour Chander from the Ram Bazaar area. Chander lured him by offering a chocolate and took him to Tajender godown situated just above shop of Yug’s father. Later, he was bundled in a cardboard box and was taken to Chander’s rented house at Ramchandra Chowk in Tejinder’s vehicle.

Yug’s skeletal remains were found in a water tank in Kelston locality two years later on August 22, 2016, leading to widespread protests across the town. The child was tortured, starved and forced to consume liquor before he was thrown into the tank.

After Yug went missing, a case of abduction was registered on June 16, 2014. However, after cops failed to trace the killers, the case was transferred to the CID in August 2014. Investigations revealed that Chander, who was known to Yug’s father Vinod Gupta, hatched a plan to kidnap the child for ransom. The accused demanded ₹3.6 crore from his father. A video grab from Vikrant’s mobile phone, in which he was seen pleading for his life, led to breakthrough in the case. The CID arrested the three accused on August 22, 2016.

Police and CID recorded statements of 114 persons in the case. The CID had submitted a DNA report pertaining to matching of remains of Yug with his parents, diatomic report ascertaining that he was dumped in water alive and biological reports. All these were included in the chargesheet filed against the three accused on October 25, 2016.