NAGPUR: Even in a seriously burnt condition, 30-year-old
Aarti Shende
narrated to at least five persons, including her two brothers, how her husband
Kishore Shende
set their hut on fire in the early hours of Feb 15, 2023. Relying on her statements to the five key witnesses, a Gondia court Monday convicted Kishore for the murder of Aarti, their four-year-old son Jai and her paralytic father Devanand (55).
Ad hoc additional sessions judge N B Lavte will pronounce quantum of sentence on May 9.
Doubting Aarti's character, Kishore, a bootlegger, used to mentally and physically torture her since their marriage, compelling her to leave his house, along with her two children, and stay with her parents. A day before the incident, Kishore came to his in-laws' house and threatened Aarti to return soon or face dire consequences.
On Feb 15, Kishore first set ablaze Aarti's father, who was sleeping in front of the hut, and later torched the hut. Jai and Devanand died shortly after, while Aarti was declared dead due to septicaemia at Govt Medical College and Hospital in Nagpur on Feb 23.
Special prosecutor Vijay Kolhe had examined 19 witnesses, which included eye-witnesses and the six-year-old daughter of the Shende couple, who had escaped death as she was at a relative's house. She narrated to the court tales of her father's cruelty.
"It also came to the fore during witness deposition that Kishore had once tied Aarti to his bike and moved around in the village," said Kolhe, adding that the prosecution had pleaded the court to consider the case in the category of 'rarest of the rare', and capital punishment for the sheer brutality with which Kishore committed the crime.
English (US) ·