3 youths sentenced to death for murder

Shillong, Aug 25 (UNI) Additional District Sessions Judge(ADSJ) of West Garo Hills A Ch Marak yesterday pronounced the death penalty for three youths who had abducted and murdered a nine-year-old boy last year.

Official sources here today said the verdict, the first of its kind in Meghalaya, will be carried out as soon as Gauhati High Court upholds the verdict.

Meanwhile, the accused persons - Suroj Gupta, Sovraj Sonar and Ajay Das - could appeal against the verdict in the High Court and subsequently the Supreme Court.

Baivabh Singh of Tura in West Garo Hill district was abducted on July 24 last year by the three kidnappers, who demanded Rs 50 lakh ransom.

Later, they murdered the victim, dumped him in a deep ravine and sold his valuables in a pawn shop at Guwahati in Assam.

Terming the murder as "spine chilling" and "nerve shattering", the ADSJ said, "The enormity of the pre-planned perpetuated crime is such that any rational man is bound to be shocked and worse still, every man in society will continue having nightmares if ghastly crimes go unpunished accordingly." ''The crime severely jolted the peace-loving residents of Tura town,'' the sentence order read.

Meanwhile, a 54-year-old man was yesterday convicted to six years and one month in jail for attempting to rape an infant in 2002.

Official sources here today said the accused - Hathing Sangma - was arrested after he tried to force himself on a one-year-and-three-month-old girl child at Rongka Chiring locality of Tura.

UNI