Karnit cracks a joke as 2 get life term

It was a moment of triumph for the Shah family when, after a two-year-long fight for justice, the verdict in their son’s abduction case came in.

“We are happy that the court meted out maximum punishment to two of the accused. We wanted all four of them to be punished, but the other two were let off; we don’t know why. But we are happy that the judgment has come after such a long wait,” said Anand Shah, Karnit’s father and a stockbroker.

Karnit Shah, then five years old, had gone missing from outside his home in Pranik Gardens, Kandivli, on April 6, 2011. He was found a fortnight later in Allahabad, UP, after the police conducted several rounds of investigations.

On Monday, a sessions court sentenced the convicted accused Sameer Khan and Sujit Bin Singh to life imprisonment. The other accused, Sandeep Waroshe and Sohan Gupta, were acquitted.

Anand said that the incident had left the whole family traumatised. However, the now seven-year-old Karnit, a Std III student of Kapol School in Kandivli, has put the past behind him.

“In the past two years, Karnit was asked to be present in court at least seven times during the hearings. He has had to sit there for hours together and has also given several statements. Although he is too young to understand much about conviction and punishment, he knew that a judgment was awaited. I am glad that this chapter is coming to an end,” Anand said.

Karnit’s mother Alpa, a housewife, added that they try not to discuss the horrifying incident at home. “We don’t bring up the subject too often. We were just waiting for the verdict, and the support from the police, the media and the public has been enormous. This is a lesson for other criminals too,” she said.

Quick recap of events
Karnit Shah was kidnapped from outside his house on April 6, 2011, when he was playing cricket with his friends. After the game ended, all his friends returned home, but Karnit did not. His family searched for him high and low, but he was nowhere to be found.

The Shah family then took to social media, putting up a picture of their son on Facebook and Twitter, and even starting a Gmail chain. A reward of Rs2 lakh was announced for anyone who would help them find Karnit .

In the meantime, the police team investigating the abduction observed that a cake store near Karnit’s house shut shop following his abduction. After conducting inquiries, they found that the store owner was involved in the crime. Karnit was eventually rescued from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh.