AGRA: A court in Aligarh has sentenced three men to life in prison for the murder of a private finance company employee with the victim’s six-year-old daughter’s testimony playing a key role in nailing the convicts.On the night of Jan 20, 2021, Vikas Saxena, 24, was at home with his daughter, when a few of their neighbours scaled the outer wall, entered the house and strangled Saxena with a pipe and plastic rope in front of the child. Saxena’s wife, a govt school teacher, was out of town.The case initially puzzled investigators due to the absence of forced entry. However, the child recognised one of the accused who spoke threateningly to her father before attacking him.The victim’s brother, Prashant Saxena, filed a complaint, and stated that the accused also took away gold jewellery and Rs 2 lakh cash from the house. He added that he was informed about the crime over the phone by another neighbour.Two days later, suspecting the role of neighbours in Saxena’s murder, police arrested the accused — Vivek Sharma, 25, Mohit Sharma, 26, and Yogendra Pandit, 25. Saxena’s daughter immediately identified Vivek. An FIR under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 392 (robbery) was registered, and they were all sent to jail. The stolen items were recovered.“Additional district judge PK Jayant found all three neighbours guilty of murder and robbery. Mohit had been in jail since his arrest, while the other two were granted bail about two months ago,” ADGC Pramendra Jain said.The ADGC added after examining the evidence, particularly the testimony of the victim’s daughter, the court sentenced all three to life in prison along with a total fine of Rs 10.8 lakh.
