Panchkula couple, engineer get life term for killing Dr Kaura
Additional district and sessions judge Jaswinder Sheemar on Thursday awarded life term to three persons after holding them guilty of killing Dr Deepak Kaura, a Chandigarh-based cardiologist. The convicts are Deepak Sharma, his wife Honey Aggarwal, residents of Sector 11, Panchkula; and Vishal Vij, a sacked junior engineer from the PGIMER and a resident of Sector 20, Chandigarh.
Additional district and sessions judge Jaswinder Sheemar on Thursday awarded life term to three persons after holding them guilty of killing Dr Deepak Kaura, a Chandigarh-based cardiologist.
The convicts are Deepak Sharma, his wife Honey Aggarwal, residents of Sector 11, Panchkula; and Vishal Vij, a sacked junior engineer from the PGIMER and a resident of Sector 20, Chandigarh. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 31,000 on each convict.
Dr Kaura ran Oxford Hospital in Sector 19, Chandigarh, and was found murdered on December 21, 2011, at Dera Bassi.
Public prosecutor Gurdeep Singh said Dr Kaura died of overdose of sedatives as the trio had administered two injections of Phenergan and Fortwin to him. Phenergan is commonly used as a sedative or sleep aid, while Fortwin is a strong pain killer made from opioid. His body was recovered from an abandoned car at Hebatpura village in Dera Bassi, along with 100 ml of liquor in a bottle and a pillow.
He added the recoveries made by the police from the convicts became substantial evidence in the case.
During interrogation, the convicts had admitted that they had initially planned to blackmail Dr Kaura and extract money from him. But when this did not work, they planned to kidnap him and seek ransom from his family. However, the accused did consider murdering Kaura out of the fear of being arrested.
The trio, in order to make money, targeted Dr Kaura, who was in the habit of befriending women, and hatched a conspiracy to blackmail him in October 2011. As per the plan, on December 20, 2011, Honey was dropped at Sector 19 in Chandigarh by her husband Deepak and Vishal and as per their plan, she was to get Dr Kaura to her residence in Panchkula.
On the fateful day, Honey accompanied Dr Kaura to the lake. But, on receiving an emergency call, Dr Kaura reached Sector 19, while she kept sitting in a coffee shop. After this, Dr Kaura took Honey in his car and reached his residence and called the pet dogs. After spending a few minutes with the pets, the duo left for Honey’s residence where Vishal and Deepak were waiting.
On reaching the house, Kaura entered into a scuffle with Vishal and Deepak. In order to prevent him from raising the alarm, the accused put tape on his mouth. The accused then administered him two injections to make him unconscious, but the overdose killed him.
Kaura was held guilty of abetting wife’s suicide
Dr Kaura’s wife Dr Babita, who worked as an assistant professor at the department of immunopathology at the PGIMER, committed suicide in 2005. Following Dr Kaura’s extra-marital relations, she jumped from the roof of her residence in Sector 24. On July 12, 2010, Dr Kaura was convicted by the local court for abetment of suicide and was awarded four years imprisonment. Later, the high court granted him bail.
How convicts knew each other
Before starting his own business, Deepak Sharma worked with Vodafone where he came in contact with Vishal, who used to visit him for the verification of connections. Vishal and Deepak, in order to make money, used to steal scooters and motorcycles from Chandigarh. After their arrest, the police also recovered stolen vehicles from their possession.
Sentence as per IPC sections
302 (murder) and 120b (criminal conspiracy): Life term
364 (kidnapping in order to murder): 10 years
403(dishonest misappropriation of property): 3 years
201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender): 1 year
Sentences to run concurrently.
Timeline
Oct 2011: Trio hatch conspiracy to blackmail and extract money from Dr Kaura, which fails
Dec 20, 2011: Trio kills Dr Kaura by administering two injections
Dec 30, 2011: Police hold press conference after arresting all accused and disclose their conspiracy. Reveals about recovering stolen things, including diamond ring of Dr Kaura
Oct 29, 2014: Court convicts trio; sentenced pronounced