Bengaluru techie Payal Sureka murder case: CBI court sentences gym trainer to life imprisonment
New Delhi, Nov 7: A special CBI court in Bengaluru has sentenced a gym instructor to life imprisonment for the murder of an Information Technology professional, officials said on Thursday.
"The special judge for CBI cases, Bengaluru has sentenced James Kumar Ray to undergo life imprisonment with a fine of Rs 1 lakh in a case related to the murder of Payal Sureka, an Information Technology professional," The CBI spokesperson said in a statement Thursday evening.
The court further ordered that the husband of the woman is entitled for the fine amount in the form of compensation, he said.
Bengaluru police had charge sheeted Ray for the murder of Sureka, who was killed at her flat in JP Nagar on December 17, 2010.
The family of the deceased approached the Supreme Court which transferred the case to the CBI for further investigation, he said.
According to the CBI, in 2008, Surekha married Anantha Narayana Mishra, who was running a gymnasium in Bengaluru.
Nearly a year later, Mishra opened another gym in Cuttack with some friends as his partners, he said.
Ray, who was working at the Cuttack gym, allegedly started posing as the owner and misappropriated funds, the CBI said.
Later, Mishra removed Ray from the job which affected the financial position as well as the social status of Ray.
"It was also alleged that Mishra and his father castigated Ray in front of all gym trainees. Ray felt deeply insulted by the harsh words of Mishra and decided to take revenge on them," the spokesperson said.
As revenge he planned to kill Sureka who was living alone in Bengaluru.
After coming to know of Mishra's schedule, who was in Odisha on December 16, 2010, Ray reached the house of the victim in Bengaluru on December 17, he said.
Finding her alone, he killed her by brutally stabbing her with a knife.
After committing the murder, Ray left Bengaluru for Hyderabad, he said.
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Court allows 5-day police custody of Bibhav Kumar in Swati Maliwal assault case
New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court allowed five-day custodial interrogation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's aide Bibhav Kumar in the Swati Maliwal assault case, sing the police remand was a "necessity" in the matter.
Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Goyal was hearing the application of Delhi Police which was represented by Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava. The police had sought seven day custody.
It is alleged that Kumar, who is Kejriwal's personal assistant, assaulted AAP MP Swati Maliwal at the CM's residence on May 13.
"Considering the submissions made on behalf of both the parties, I find there is a necessity of police custody remand in the present case. Accordingly, the application moved by the investigating officer (IO) is partly allowed and the accused is remanded to police custody for five days," the court said in its order passed around 12:45 AM Sunday.
It noted the prosecution's submissions about the need to take Kumar to Mumbai and other parts of the national capital to collect evidence, which was not possible without the accused's custody.
"Admittedly, the case is at a nascent stage. Allegations made in the FIR are corroborated in her (Maliwal's) statement recorded by the magistrate on oath and further, it is again corroborated in the medico-legal case (MLC) of the victim or complainant," the court said.
The magistrate also observed, "I am aware of the view of constitutional courts that the opportunity must be given to the investigating agency to complete the investigation in order to reach the truth of the matter but at the same time the rights of the accused are also to be protected."
Asking the Investigating Officer to take Kumar into formal custody, the court directed his medical examination every 24 hours and said the investigating agency would not subject the accused to "any torture."
It also allowed Kumar to meet his advocate and wife for half an hour each during the police custody.
Kumar's application for providing requisite medicines was also allowed.
The proceedings which commenced around 9: 15 PM Saturday saw initial arguments by Srivastava following which the magistrate said, "I find force in the arguments of the APP (Additional Public Prosecutor) that there were sufficient grounds to arrest the accused without notice."
The prosecutor made several arguments, including those mentioned in the remand application and also that the "means or weapon" by which Kumar assaulted Maliwal had to be recovered.
The vehement counter-arguments by Kumar's counsels continued for more than one-and-a-half hours. One of his counsels, Rajiv Mohan, claimed that Maliwal had lodged the FIR "belatedly after deliberation and concoction."
The Delhi Police arrested Kumar earlier on Saturday and his anticipatory bail plea was subsequently observed as becoming "infructuous" by a Delhi court.
