The special CBI court in an important verdict here on Thursday awarded 12 years of rigorous imprisonment to Manoj Gurjar, the main accused in the murder of IPS Narendra Kumar Singh in Moorena last year.
Special CBI Judge Anupam Srivastava found tractor driver Manoj Gurjar guilty under Section 304 and 353 of IPC related to culpable homicide not amounting to murder and slapped on him a 10-year jail term, besides imposing a fine of Rs 10,000, CBI lawyer AH Khan said, adding that the special CBI court also sentenced Gurjar to two years’ of rigorous imprisonment under Section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of IPC along with a fine of Rs 1,000. The accused will have to undergo an additional jail term of two months, in case of non-payment of penalty, Khan added.
Gurjar had allegedly mowed down IPS officer Narendra Kumar Singh (30) while the latter tried to stop his tractor trolley carrying illegally mined stones on March 8 in Moorena last year. At the time of incident, Singh was posted as sub-divisional officer of police at Banmore.
Singh, a 2009 batch IPS officer, was initially suspected to have been killed as part of a conspiracy by mining mafia, but subsequent investigations had ruled this out.
Keshavdev, father of Singh, had alleged conspiracy by mining mafia to kill his son but the contention was rejected by the agency in its charge sheet which termed Gurjar as the sole accused and also called the killing as ‘unintentional’.
“It was not (an) intentional murder. There is no political involvement and no mafia link in the case and it is (a case of) culpable homicide,” CBI prosecutor AH Khan had told media persons s after filing of the charge sheet in the case last year.
The CBI had charged Gurjar under Sections 304 related to culpable homicide not amounting to murder and 353 of IPC related to obstructing Government work and Motor Vehicles Act which attract a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
Reacting to the judgement, Gurjar’s counsel Mahendra Maurya said they will file an appeal in the High Court against the judgement. The convict, presently lodged in Indore jail, also requested the court to transfer him to Morena jail.
