Lifer for four in post-Godhra riot case

AHMEDABAD: A local court on Thursday sentenced four persons to life imprisonment for hacking a youth to death in Gomtipur locality of the city during the post-Godhra communal riots in 2002.

Additional Sessions Judge D T Soni gave the four -- Fakruddin alias Fakru Kamruddin, Mohammad Zahir, Zakir Hussian Saiyed alias Motor and Mohammad Afsal Mohammed Tafiq Sheikh -- life sentences.

The court, however, acquitted two others after the eye-witnesses in this case failed to identify them.

"We had prayed for death penalty for the accused in this brutal murder," said public prosecutor Kalpesh Trivedi.

 "The court gave its judgement based on the DNA tests conducted on the weapons seized from the four accused," Trivedi said.

"The court also examined 36 witnesses, including four eye-witnesses, in this case," he said, adding three of the four eye-witnesses had turned hostile during the trial.

A mob kidnapped Devendra Ambalal Solanki during a clash in Vankar Vas on March 30, 2002.

The body of Solanki was later recovered, cut into about 35 pieces, from a pit dug besides a road near Vankar Vas on April 12, 2002, Trivedi said.

"The accused after hacking the youth to death had put acid and salt in the pit so that the body got easily decomposed," Trivedi said.

The four were arrested in April 2002 and sharp-edged weapons including hockey sticks and 'lathis' (sticks) used in the crime were also recovered by the police.

DNA tests conducted on the pieces of the body recovered from the pit and on these weapons proved that the traces of blood on the weapons were that of the victim.

"The court also served notices to three of the four eye-witnesses who had turned hostile," Trivedi said.

He said the fourth witness who identified the accused in the court also told the court that he was continuously being threatened by some of the associates of the accused.