4 get life term for killing SC lawyers, theft

NEW DELHI: A trial court on Friday awarded rigorous life imprisonment to four persons for killing the mother-daughter duo, who were practising lawyers in Supreme Court, after committing a robbery at their house in the capital nearly four years ago.
The court, which also imposed a fine of Rs 1,000 each on the convicts for the offences of murder and robbery, did not allow the prosecutor's plea of award of death penalty.
Earlier, seeking maximum punishment of death prescribed under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC, the prosecutor had said, "The convicts deserved death penalty for smothering to death the two innocent and hapless advocates in their house, that too without any rhyme or reason.''
The court, however, rejected the plea and said "though the offence was brutal, it did not fall under the rarest of rare category, warranting imposition of death penalty, as it did not shake the collective conscience of the society.''
Earlier, the court had convicted Bhasker Mahalik, Bhagwan Mahalik, Niranjan Mahalik and Jagbandhu Dass for killing Swarna Mahajan and her daughter, Anuradha Mahajan, who were practising lawyers in the Supreme Court, in their house after committing robbery. It, however, had absolved fifth accused Surendra Pal, who had allegedly accepted the robbed articles from the four convicts, for want of sufficient evidence.
The four convicts had trespassed into the house of the victims at Siddharth Enclave in south Delhi on the intervening night of March 11-12, 2006, and robbed valuables including jewellery, cash and mobile phones.