By IANS,
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court has upheld the sentence of life imprisonment to three members of the Satpal gang for abducting three people seven years ago.
Upholding the trial court’s order, a bench comprising Justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Indermeet Kaur said: “The testimony of Suraj Bhan inspires confidence and establishes that he and his son as also Anil Suri were held captive by the appellants and their cohorts. We find no merit in the appeals which are dismissed.”
Ram Baran, Surender and Megh Singh were convicted of kidnapping Suraj Bhan, his son Manoj Kumar and Anil Suri, and taking them to Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh. While Suri was kidnapped on his way to Agra, Bhan and his son were abducted from Vikaspuri in West Delhi.
The abductors then started making ransom calls from a public telephone booth in Etawah, which was put under surveillance after the family members of Suri and Suraj Bhan informed the police.
With the help of local police, a Delhi police team nabbed the three accused while they were making ransom calls but other members of the gang fled with the captives.
Later on, Bhan was released and was asked to arrange Rs.25 lakh (Rs.2,500,000) to get his son released. But his son managed to escape.
Suri is still missing for the last seven years and is presumed to be dead.
“In spite of all the efforts, Anil Suri remains untraced. Presumably, he is dead. Unfortunately, other members of Satpal gang could not be arrested,” the court said in its order Friday.