By IANS,
New Delhi : Retired army officer S.J. Choudhary, sentenced to life for the murder of automobile dealer Krishan Sikand in 1982, Friday refuted charges that the murder was pre-planned and without provocation.
Challenging his life sentence awarded by a trial court earlier this month, Lt. Col. (retd) Choudhary told the court: “There can be no bigger provocation for an army officer than to know that a man was keeping his wife before the grant of divorce.”
His petition challenging the sentence is likely to be heard Monday.
Additional Sessions Judge Mamta Sehgal last month held Choudhary, 72, guilty under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as Sections 3 and 4 of the Explosives Act. He was also fined Rs.10,000.
The court convicted Choudhary for sending a parcel bomb that killed Sikand Oct 2, 1982, at his Sunder Nagar home.
According to the prosecution, Chaudhary was angry because his estranged wife had decided to move in with Sikand and the two had planned to get married.
The Central Bureau of Investigation had also alleged that the bomb used in the murder was made in Pakistan and seized by the Indian Army following its victory in the 1971 war.
After Choudhary was arrested and the charge-sheet was filed against him, the trial began May 31, 1984, and the process of recording evidence continued for 15 years.