18 yrs on, 3 get life for burning 6 members of a family alive in UP

Bareilly: Nearly 18 years after six members of a family were found burnt to death in a thatched house in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri district, a court of additional district judge Ashok Kumar Dubey has sentenced three men to life imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs 8,000 each.Additional district govt counsel (ADGC) Ram Raman Saini said the incident stemmed from a personal dispute. The house owner, Chhannulal (35), was allegedly in a relationship with his cousin Om Prakash's wife, Rekha, after her husband's death. Mangulal, a relative, and others allegedly bore a grudge against Chhannulal over the relationship.Around 2 am on Nov 16, 2008, while Chhannulal and his family were asleep, Mangulal and his son (a juvenile at the time), along with Satya Narayan and Ramesh Kumar, allegedly set the house ablaze. Villagers reached the spot on noticing the fire, but the victims could not be saved. Those killed were Chhannulal, his wife Kanti (31), their three minor children -- Rohit, Rohini and Mohini -- and Rekha, the ADGC added.An FIR was lodged under IPC section 302 (murder) by Chhannulal's brother, Americ, who said he saw Mangulal and his son fleeing the scene with others in the light of the flames. He and other villagers attempted to douse the fire, but after it was extinguished, the charred bodies were found inside. A chargesheet was later filed.Sub-inspector Mahendra Pratap Singh, who was part of the investigation team, said material evidence, including partially burnt clothes, plastic items and ash, was collected from the scene and preserved for trial.Postmortem findings indicated that the victims were strangled before being burnt. The injuries were ante-mortem in nature, consistent with throttling leading to asphyxia, followed by extensive post-mortem burns across the body, the report said. Doctors said that the bodies were completely charred, with deep burns and a pugilistic posture. Examination revealed bruising of neck tissues and a fractured hyoid bone, pointing to manual strangulation. Internal organs, including the lungs, liver and kidneys, were found congested. The medical opinion concluded that death was caused by asphyxia due to ante-mortem throttling, with burns inflicted after death.On Tuesday, the court found the three men guilty of murder. Another accused, Gulau alias Gullu, was acquitted due to "lack of evidence", while the case involving the juvenile accused has been separated and sent to the Juvenile Justice Board.