Four youths who escaped death row return home from Sharjah

Amritsar, Nov 5: Four youths, sentenced to death in Sharjah for murdering a Pakistani man in 2009, reached here on Nov 4 following their release from prison after payment of blood money.

Rakesh Kumar, Sukhpal Singh, Charanjeet and Rashwinder Pal landed this evening at the Rajasansi Airport here after spending two years in a Sharjah prison.

They were brought here by businessman and Indian Punjabi Society founder president S P Singh Oberoi. The Sharjah Appeal Court had accepted the appeal earlier this year after the victim Misri Nazir Khan's blood relatives dropped their request for capital punishment.

On Mar 28, 2010, the Sharjah Court of First Instance had pronounced the death sentence on the 17 Indian nationals, who were accused of killing a Pakistani in Jan 2009. Seventeen men, 16 from Punjab and one from Haryana, got a new lease of life due to an out-of-court blood money settlement amounting to Rs 4.36 crore.

Since all convicts completed their sentence on Nov 1, they have been ordered to be released and deported from the UAE, subject to clearance from various authorities.

The other four prisoners are yet to be released after the completion of pending documents, Oberoi said. The Indian Consulate had issued temporary passports within a day to four of the boys to facilitate their immediate return to India.

PTI