Virat Kohli set to play Ranji Trophy after 12 years
New Delhi (PTI): Indian superstar Virat Kohli is set to play his first Ranji Trophy game since 2012 after making himself available for Delhi's tie against Railways scheduled here from January 30.
Kohli could not make it for Delhi's upcoming away clash against Saurashtra, beginning in Rajkot on January 23, due to a neck sprain but he has communicated to DDCA that he is available for the team's last league match of the Ranji Trophy.
"Virat has conveyed to DDCA president (Rohan Jaitley) and team management that he is available for the game against Railways," Delhi head coach Sarandeep Singh told PTI.
The BCCI has made playing domestic cricket mandatory for its contracted cricketers unless there is a fitness issue following the series loss in Australia earlier this month.
Kohli last played a Ranji Trophy match in November 2012 when Delhi took on Uttar Pradesh in Ghaziabad.
Thanks to BCCI's directive, the last two rounds of Ranji Trophy will be star-studded affairs.
Kohli's India and Delhi teammate Rishabh Pant will play his first Ranji game in six years when he takes the field in Rajkot. He too could be seen alongside Kohli in the Railways game.
After the Champions Trophy squad announcement on Saturday, India captain Rohit Sharma confirmed his availability for Mumbai's match against Jammu and Kashmir at home.
Other India stars including Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ravindra Jadeja will also be seen in action in the next round of Ranji Trophy for their respective sides.
The clamour for Rohit and Co to play red-ball cricket had grown after India lost their second successive Test series. After being blanked 3-0 by New Zealand at home, India lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 1-3 in Australia.
Both Rohit and Kohli had a series to forget in Australia. While Rohit decided to bench himself for the final Test in Sydney due to poor form, Kohli was caught in the slip cordon off balls outside the off-stump as many as eight times in the series.
India next play a Test against England in June but both Rohit and Kohli would like to be among the runs heading into the Champions Trophy next month.
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Delhi court sentences Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia, associate to life imprisonment
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has sentenced Haryana gangster Vikas Gulia and his associate to life imprisonment under MCOCA provisions, but refused the death penalty saying the offences did not fall under the category of 'rarest of the rare cases'.
Additional Sessions Judge Vandana Jain sentenced Gulia and Dhirpal alias Kana to rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
In an order dated December 13, the judge said, "Death sentence can only be awarded in 'rarest of the rare cases' wherein the murder is committed in an extremely inhumane, barbarous, grotesque or dastardly manner as to arouse umbrage of the community at large."
The judge said that on weighing the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, it could be concluded that the present case did not fall under the category, and so, the death penalty could not be imposed upon the convicts.
"Thus, both the convicts are sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh each, for committing the offence under Section 3 of MCOCA," she said.
The public prosecutor, seeking the death penalty for both the accused, submitted that they were involved in several unlawful activities while they were on bail in other cases.
He argued that the accused had shown no respect for the law and acted without any fear of legal consequences, and therefore did not deserve any leniency from the court.
The court noted that both convicts were involved in offences of murder, attempt to murder, extortion, robbery, house trespass, and criminal intimidation. Besides, they had misused the liberty of interim bail granted to them by absconding.
It said, "The terror of the convicts was such that it created fear psychosis in the mind of the general public, and they lost complete faith in the law enforcement agencies and chose to accede to the illegal demands of convicts. Despite suffering losses, they could not gather the courage to depose against them."
The court noted that Gulia was involved in at least 18 criminal cases, while Dhirpal had links to 10 serious offences.
It underlined that MCOCA had been enacted "keeping in view the fact that organised crime had come up as a serious threat to society, as it knew no territorial boundaries and is fuelled by illegal wealth generated by committing the offence of extortion, contract killings, kidnapping for ransom, collection of protection money, murder, etc."
Both accused persons had been convicted on December 10 in a case registered at Najafgarh police station. The police filed a chargesheet under Section 3 (punishment for organised crime) and 4 (punishment for possessing unaccountable wealth on behalf of member of organised crime syndicate) of MCOCA.
