Crime
Kids’ kidnap-murder case: Bombay HC commutes death verdict for 2 to life

Bombay High Court.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday commuted the death sentences on two prime accused – both step-sisters – to life term till death in jail, in the sensational case of the kidnapping of 13 minor children and murdering at least 5 of them, that rocked the state in the early 1990s.
The accused, Seema Mohan Gavit, 39, and Renuka Kiran Shinde, 45, were arrested by Maharashtra Police in 1996 and have so far spent around 25 years under the shadow of the hangman’s noose, at the Yerawada Central Jail, Pune.
Another prime accused and their mother, Anjana, who was also arrested and charged in the case, passed away in 1998 during the pendency of the trial.
A division bench of Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice Sarang Kotwal commuted the death penalty, rapping the delays by the government authorities in taking a decision on the mercy pleas of the two.
In 2001, the half-sisters were convicted and awarded the death penalty by the Kolhapur Sessions Court for the stunning kidnappings of 13 children and killing 5 of them brutally.
The death sentence was confirmed by the Bombay High Court in 2004 and then the Supreme Court in 2006.
The sisters had earlier filed mercy pleas before the Governor in 2008 that were declined in August 2013, and later to the President, which was rejected in July 2014, even as people from the USA Japan, Canada, and India appealed to the President for commuting the death verdict, saying that execution of women is extremely rare.
After the rejection of their appeals from both the Governor and the President, they moved the Bombay High Court.
The matter was taken up urgently on August 19, 2014, as the two sisters awaited the gallows that day.
The Public Prosecutor issued telephonic instructions to the YCJ Jail Superintendent Yogesh Desai to stop the hangings till their pleas were heard and the matter came up on the board the following day.
The petitioners contended that the government machinery did not adhere to the rules that required utmost expediency and resorted to a “most casual approach” resulting in a delay of nearly 8 years, which the division bench upheld.
The sisters contended, through their lawyer Aniket Vagal, that the delay was attributable to the executive including the Governor and the Maharashtra Government, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the President, which was denied by the Centre’s lawyer Sandesh Patil.
The judges noted that from the date of the sisters submitting their mercy plea on September 1, 2006 till it was finally disposed of on July 30, 2014, it took 7 years, 10 months and 15 days.
Justice Jamdar and Justice Kotwal also observed how the chronology showed that there was “nothing but the movement of files, delay, and casual approach demonstrated at each stage” and the state government moved “as if it was a routine file, perhaps even slower than that”, at each stage “officers exhibited utter casualness”.
The court also frowned at how, in the period between 2006-2014, modern electronic communication facilities, email, courier, transportation were easily available to all government officers, and termed as “abhorrent” the movement of files/papers in such a crucial matter within the state or the city after gaps of 15 days, month, six months or up to one year.
It also commented on how the matter was circulated before the court only by the petitioner-sisters in 2021 and not by the government since 2016, and the manner in which the two convicts were kept isolated in the ‘Death Convict Yard’ which has an ominous connotation, and was described as “brooding horror of hanging, daunting the prisoner in the condemned cell” by the late Justice Krishna Iyer.
However, the evidence on record shows the kids were brutally murdered, showing the “depravity” of the two convict-sisters which was “heinous and beyond words to condemn”, the bench said, ordering “life imprisonment is till the life of the convict” unless the competent authority decides otherwise, though the (convicts) were beyond reform for society.
The court also cancelled the unexecuted death warrants against the two sisters and disposed of the petition.
Crime
ED conducts raids in Delhi, Raj, Gujarat in ₹2,700 cr money laundering case involving real estate scheme

Jaipur, June 12: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched a massive crackdown on Thursday in connection with a Rs 2,700 crore money laundering case involving a real estate scheme. The ED conducted raids at approximately 24 locations across Delhi, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
According to agency sources, the ongoing investigation is linked to a large-scale financial fraud related to a real estate scheme named Red Nexa Evergreen.
In Rajasthan, ED teams carried out operations in cities including Jaipur, Jodhpur, Sikar, and Jhunjhunu.
Simultaneous raids were also conducted in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and parts of Delhi. The crackdown is being executed under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The Red Nexa Evergreen project reportedly lured investors with promises of high returns or property allocations — either flats, land, or premium rates after a fixed tenure.
Allegations suggest that a significant number of investors were duped in the process.
Rajasthan Police had earlier registered an FIR against multiple individuals involved in the fraudulent scheme.
The ED’s investigation aims to uncover the financial trail and identify key beneficiaries of the scam. More details are expected to emerge as the search operations continue. Around 24 places are being raided in Rajasthan and Gujarat and Delhi.
The investors in this project were lured to invest their money till a particular time and told that they can get plots and flats in return for their investments.
However investors were duped as none of the promises were allegedly fulfilled.
In the end the frustrated investors filed many FIRs in this regard.
The raids have been conducted keeping money laundering in mind, said officials.
Once the search operation is done, action will be taken against those involved in the fraud.
Rajasthan police were acting in the matter till now, however now that the ED has come into the picture, fresh facts are expected to come out soon in the case, said sources.
Crime
Sonam confesses to role in husband Raja Raghuvanshi’s murder

Shillong, June 11: Sonam Raghuvanshi, the prime accused in the sensational murder of her husband Raja Raghuvanshi during their honeymoon in Meghalaya, has confessed to her role in the crime during interrogation, sources told media on Wednesday.
According to the sources, Sonam admitted to orchestrating the murder when she was questioned by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) earlier in the day.
Her confession was also formally recorded in front of officials from the Meghalaya Police, confirming her direct involvement in the crime, the sources said.
Earlier in the day, five accused — Sonam Raghuvanshi, her alleged boyfriend Raj Kushwaha, Anand Kurmi, Akash Rajput, and Vishal Singh Chauhan — were produced in a Shillong court following detailed interrogation by the SIT.
Police officials revealed that the three alleged contract killers — Akash, Anand, and Vikash — travelled from Indore to Shillong in separate phases to avoid drawing attention.
Their movement was traced through CCTV footage, train ticket bookings, and Aadhaar card photocopies, which helped authorities confirm their identities and track their route to Meghalaya.
According to investigators, the killers joined the couple on a trek on May 23, disguising themselves as fellow tourists.
Albert Pde, a local guide, informed the police that he had offered assistance to the group but was turned down.
He also noted that the group was conversing in Hindi and deliberately opted for a remote and rugged trekking trail, away from the popular tourist area of the Double Decker Living Root Bridge.
Sonam Raghuvanshi was arrested after she surrendered at the Nandganj police station in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur district in the early hours of Monday.
Her surrender followed days of intense pressure mounted by a coordinated, multi-state police operation involving law enforcement agencies from Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh.
According to the police, Sonam plotted her husband’s murder and hired contract killers to execute the plan while on their honeymoon.
The other accused were nabbed during a series of raids conducted by police teams across Madhya Pradesh.
Crime
How arrested Pakistani national in Kolkata secured EPIC card, voted twice; ED probes

Kolkata, June 11: The Enforcement Directorate have started tracking the sources of the documents based on which Azad Mullick, the Pakistani citizen whom ED arrested in Kolkata in April, secured an EPIC card, with which he voted twice, first in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election and then in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Sources aware of the development said that what has kept the ED investigating officials even more intrigued is how the EPIC card held by Azad did not create doubts in the minds of the review officials during the interim revision of the voters’ list between 2021 and 2024.
The officials are in touch with the offices of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, to get details of the documents furnished by Azad for getting the EPIC card.
According to information available with ED, Azad was enrolled as a voter of Dum Dum-Uttar Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas district, which is again one of the seven Assembly constituencies under Dum Dum Lok Sabha constituency. He admitted this in the face of interrogation about his voting in 2021 and 2024.
The issue of foreign nationals becoming voters in West Bengal has become a politically sensitive issue in the state ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled next year.
On Tuesday, ECI ordered the office of the CEO, West Bengal, to probe the case of a man, who was active in the student ‘movement’ in Bangladesh last year, and features as a registered voter in the Kakdwip Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas district.
The controversy surfaced after some whistleblowers highlighted the picture of Newton Das, a registered voter with Kakdwip Assembly constituency, featuring in the students’ movement in Bangladesh last year on social media. The whistleblowers and a cousin of Das also claimed that Das had dual citizenship in India and Bangladesh.
According to the Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, the new addition to the endless list of corruption under the Trinamool Congress regime is ensuring the enlistment of Bangladeshis in the state’s voters list
The case of Azad, originally a Pakistani citizen, was even more complicated. When he was arrested at the beginning of April, documents seized by the ED official then showed that he was a Bangladeshi citizen, who was residing in India after arranging Indian identity documents, including an Indian passport, by furnishing fake documents.
However, on April 29, the ED counsel informed a special court in Kolkata that in the face of interrogation, Mullick admitted that he was an original resident of Pakistan. He said he first managed to arrange a Bangladeshi citizenship for himself through the use of forged documents and subsequently, in the same manner,r arranged Indian identity documents.
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