Indian Express: New Delhi:
Monday, June 03, 2013.
The curiosity
of a couple, convicted for rape of a minor, proved costly for them as the RTI
query filed by them regarding a dead woman helped police nail them for three
murders.
A city court
sentenced Kanhaiya Lal Seth and his wife Usha Rani — who were serving seven years
in jail for rape to life term for
murdering the mother of the rape victim and her two sons.
Kanhaiya and
Usha sought information under RTI about a dead woman, whose photograph was
published in the media for identification.
The RTI was
filed in 2007, following which a probe was conducted that revealed that the
dead woman was the mother of the girl raped by Kanhaiya. Usha was held guilty
of abetting the rape and helping Kanhaiya push the girl into prostitution.
Additional
Sessions Judge Pinki sentenced the duo to life imprisonment, with the direction
that they would not be released from prison for the rest of their lives.
The woman and
her sons were murdered in 2004. Her body was found near Kashmere Gate post
office on May 13, 2004, and the bodies of her sons were found in a carton near
New Delhi railway station on April 19, 2004.
Police were
trying to locate the relatives of the dead woman and had printed her photograph
in the media.
The
advertisement drew Kanhaiya’s attention as the woman’s name was tattooed on her
hand. He then filed the RTI application addressed to the Commissioner of Police
(North).
In the
application, Kanhaiya claimed that he had been falsely implicated in the rape
case and the girl who accused him of the crime had also said he was responsible
for her mother and siblings going missing.
By then,
police had closed the cases of the three unclaimed bodies, but swung into
action after receiving the RTI plea.
On further
probe and interrogation of Kanhaiya and Usha in jail, police came to know of
their role in the three murders.
According to
the prosecution, the convicts brought the family, including the 16-year-old
girl who was a prosecution witness in murder case, to their house in Paharganj
in April 2004. They murdered the two boys and their mother and Kanhaiya raped
the girl. His wife aided him in the crime.
The couple
was also identified by the porter, whose help they sought to place the carton
containing the boys’ bodies at the railway station.
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