Revenge bid lands family of four in jail

GURUGRAM: A 25-year-old man

kidnapped

a one-and-a-half-year-old girl to settle an old score with her

family

but landed in

jail

. To avenge the

arrest

, his mother and wife levelled rape charges against the father and grandfather of the infant girl but faced conviction.

Additional sessions judge Rajani Yadav on Saturday pronounced Neeraj Sharma (25) guilty in the kidnapping case and convicted his mother Sashi Sharma and wife Deepa for trying to implicate someone in a false case.

The quantum of punishment will be announced on Tuesday.

Public prosecutor Arvind Sharma and advocate Prashant Yadav said the accused had been convicted on the basis of their call details, statements of eyewitnesses and the chain of events as reconstructed by the police during the investigation.

On December 21, 2015, two bike-borne youths kidnapped infant daughter of Meenakshi Yadav and Jitendra Yadav, residents of Fazilpur village.

In her complaint, Meenakshi said she was sitting outside her house when two persons came on a bike and took away her daughter, who was sleeping on a cot. She also identified one of the youths as Neeraj Sharma, who used to stay in the house of one of their relatives as tenant till a year ago. However, he, along with his family, was evicted from the house due to his behaviour. The second accused was identified as Neeraj’s minor brother.

Police sources said to avenge the eviction from the house, Neeraj, who was familiar with the daily routine of the Yadav family, kidnapped the girl from their courtyard and demanded a ransom of Rs 30 lakh. He kept moving from one place to another with the child to avoid arrest. But the police hunted him down and rescued the girl the same day.

His minor bother was also arrested. Neeraj has been in jail since then while his brother has been in a juvenile home.

Angry with the arrest of Neeraj and his brother, their mother Shashi threatened to level false rape charges against girl’s father Jitendra Yadav and grandfather Mir Singh Yadav. One January 19, 2016, Mir Singh, a former president of the District Bar Association, filed a complaint with Badshapur police against Shashi and Deepa for threating to implicate him and his son in false rape cases.

“On January 19, 2016, Shashi and Deepa, both related to accused Neeraj, who had kidnapped my granddaughter, came to my home and threaten to implicate me and my son in a rape case if we did not withdraw the case against Neeraj,” Mir Singh said in his police complaint.

Nevertheless, Shashi and Deepa went on to file a rape complaint against Mir Singh and Jitender at Badshapur police station. But, after investigation, the police nullified the complaint filed by Shashi and Deepa.

“Considering all the evidence, the court convicted Neeraj for kidnapping the girl while his mother and wife were convicted for trying to implicate the two men in a false case,” said Sharma, adding that the trial against the Neeraj’s brother was underway at juvenile court.