Six get death in 2013 Maharashtra honour killings

NASHIK, MAHARASHTRA: A court here on Saturday send six men to the gallows in the honour killings of three Dalit youths in Ahmednagar district five years ago.

On January 15, Nashik District and Sessions Court Judge Rajendrakumar R Vaishnav pronounced six of the seven accused guilty for the brutal murder of Sachin S Gharu and two others on January 1, 2013.

Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said the convicts have also been ordered to pay a fine of Rs 20,000 each and directed the government to compensate the victims’ families.

Some of the compensation already been paid.

Those who have been awarded the capital punishment include: Popat V Darandale, Ganesh P Darandale, Prakash V Darandale, Ramesh V Darandale, Ashok S Navgire and Sandeep M Kurhe.

Gharu, 24, had fallen in love with an upper caste Maratha girl of the has Darandale family from Sonai village. The lovers planned to marry against her family’s wishes.

The convicts include the girl’s father, Popat V Darandale, her brother Ganesh, other relatives and friends of the family. All six would be hanged for various crimes including murder, criminal conspiracy, etc.

One of the co-accused in the case Ashok R Phalke was acquitted for lack of sufficient evidence, which was handed over to the state CID by the then state home minister, the late R R Patil.

Besides Gharu, his friends Sandeep Thanvar, 25, and Rahul Kandhare, 20, were also killed and their bodies disposed of.

Gharu, Thanvar and Kandhare, who belonged to the Mehtar caste, worked as conservancy staffers in Trimurti Pawan Pratisthan’s High School and Junior College, in Newasa, around 30 km from Sonai, the investigation report said.