Man Sentenced To Life For Murdering Labourer Over Theft Of Rs 800

A court in Mumbai has sentenced a 32-year-old man to life imprisonment for murdering a labourer at Malad in 2014 over the theft of Rs 800.

Additional sessions court judge (Dindoshi court) S N Salve held Sanjay Tiwari guilty under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 302 (murder) on April 8.

In the order that was made available on Wednesday, the court said the accused is found guilty of murdering Rohit Singh by attacking him with an iron plate by entering his room.

The court, however, said that the case does not fall under the rarest of rare category and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

As per the prosecution, the accused, the victim and the complainant worked as labourers and used to stay in temporary houses near a construction site.

An amount of Rs 800 was stolen from the room of their contractor and upon search by the labourers it was found that Tiwari had committed the theft.

The incident led to animosity between the accused and other workers, the complainant, who is also the brother of the victim, said.

On October 27, 2014, Mr Singh was found lying in a pool of blood in his room by the complainant and his roommates.

The victim's brother suspected that Sanjay Tiwari killed Rohit Singh as he was holding a grudge against the labourers after they caught his theft. He filed a complaint against the accused at the local police station and the latter was arrested by the police following an investigation.

During the course of trial, the prosecution had examined 13 witnesses, including the victim's brother.

Considering the circumstantial and medical evidence, the court held that the facts clearly establish that the accused killed Mr Singh.

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