Soldier awarded death sentence by Army court martial in J&K

JAMMU: In a second case in three months, a 20-year-old soldier was sentenced to death by an army court for killing his senior officer in Udhampur district.

Satyam Kumar, the soldier belonging to the Signal Regiment was awarded death sentence on May 18 by summary general court martial at Udhampur based northern command headquarters, Lt Col Gautam said.

On October 28 last year, the soldier had shot dead his superior officer Havildar Padmamrajan, he said adding the court martial observed that this was a 'rarest of the rare case' wherein the soldier had fired at his superior officer without any provocation and killed him in cold blood.

The sentence is subject to confirmation by the central government, he added.

Earlier in February, an army court has awarded death sentence to Sepoy KC Behra for killing his senior officer and company commander Lt Col Saket Sharma.