Gujarat: life sentence for two brothers, mother for kidnapping and murder of 7-year-old girl

Meet and Dhruv Patel and their mother Jigishaben, along with two minors, hatched a conspiracy to kidnap Tanya 7 who lived in the same locality with her grandmother, as per the prosecution case.They wanted Rs 18 lakh to settle a debt incurred in cricket betting, it said.Additional sessions judge D R Bhatt sentenced the woman and her two sons to life imprisonment till last breath and also ordered them to pay Rs 4 lakh as compensation to the victims family.

A court here on Wednesday sentenced a woman and her two sons to life imprisonment for the kidnapping and murder of a seven-year-old girl in an attempt to obtain ransom. Meet and Dhruv Patel and their mother Jigishaben, along with two minors, hatched a conspiracy to kidnap Tanya (7) who lived in the same locality with her grandmother, as per the prosecution case.

They wanted Rs 18 lakh to settle a debt incurred in cricket betting, it said.

Additional sessions judge D R Bhatt sentenced the woman and her two sons to life imprisonment ''till last breath'' and also ordered them to pay Rs 4 lakh as compensation to the victim's family. Generally life imprisonment runs for 14 to 20 years, but in this case there would be no remission of sentence.

According to the prosecution, Meet Patel kidnapped the girl on September 19, 2017, from her house and took her to Anand in a rented car. He decided to kill her before making the ransom call as the girl had recognised him. The accused even bought her ice cream and chocolates before throwing her into the river from a bridge with a heavy stone tied to her body, the prosecution said.

On learning that the family members had approached police and investigation had started into the girl's disappearance, Meet decided against making a ransom call. After returning home, he even joined in the search, but his suspicious behaviour led to his arrest, followed by the arrest of others.

The girl's body was recovered three days later. Probe revealed that Meet Patel was hooked on cricket betting and had lost Rs 18 lakh.

The accused hatched the conspiracy to kidnap the girl who lived next door to get money for paying off his debt. The trial of two minors is going on separately. PTI COR KA KRK KRK