Congress worker shot dead during clash between rival groups in Ballari
Ballari: A Congress worker was shot dead during a clash between rival Reddy groups over the installation of banners ahead of a Valmiki statue unveiling programme in Ballari city on Thursday night.
The incident took place in the Havambhavi area of the city. The deceased has been identified as Rajasekhar (28), a resident of Hussain Nagar in Ballari.
According to reports, tensions erupted between supporters of former minister Janardhan Reddy and supporters of Congress MLA Nara Bharath Reddy while banners were being put up in connection with the Valmiki statue unveiling scheduled for January 3. What began as a dispute over banners soon escalated into stone-pelting between the two groups.
During the clash, firing took place, and Rajasekhar sustained a gunshot injury and died. As the situation spiralled out of control, police rushed to the spot and resorted to a lathi charge to disperse the crowd and bring the situation under control.
Janardhan Reddy alleged that the firing was carried out by the gunman of Satish Reddy, an aide of Bharath Reddy. He claimed that rowdy elements were brought in to forcibly put up banners and that there was an attempt on his life under the pretext of the banner dispute. He also displayed a bullet cartridge, alleging that it was used by supporters of Bharath Reddy during the incident.
Reacting to the incident, Congress MLA Bharath Reddy warned that protests would continue until those responsible for the death of the Congress worker are arrested. Police have launched an investigation into the incident.
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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.
