Seven get life in Raj kidnap case

Seven persons were sentenced on Friday to life by a court here in connection with the kidnap and murder a 14-year-old boy in 2003.
       
The Sewree sessions court, however, acquitted three other accused in the case, observing that there was no evidence to prove their involvment in the case.
       
Pronouncing the judgement, the court said that the prosecution had submitted ample evidence to prove that the seven accused entered into a conspiracy to kidnap Raj Agarwal for ransom following which they murdered him and tried to dispose the body in a river.
       
The teenager was kidnapped in 2003 and killed by the accused, who allegedly threw the body on the banks of Bhima river in Daund near Nashik.     

According to special public prosecutor, Ujjwal Nikam, the accused after kidnapping Raj on November 18, 2003 from suburban Dadar took him to an abandoned village near Daund, 100 km from Pune and kept him there for ten days. One of the accused then called Raj's father, a real estate agent and moneylender, and demanded a ransom of Rs five crore.
    
"However the accused allegedly murdered Raj after his father failed to pay the ransom money," Nikam said.
    
In March 2004, the police recovered a skeleton, which they claimed was that of Raj, from a river near Daund. But according to the father of the victim, the books and clothes found on the skeleton did not belong to Raj and the bicycle he was riding was never recovered.
    
Kunjbihari approached the Bombay High Court, which ordered a DNA test to confirm the identity. Two tests were conducted but none of them conclusive.
    
Nikam examined 35 witnesses to build up the case including forensic experts.
    
The victim's father said, "I will go through the judgment and then decide on the next legal step."