A match made in open jail: Two life-term convicts to marry in Rajasthan

JAIPUR: In a rare union forged by courtship in custody, two convicts serving life sentences in separate, high-profile murder cases are set to marry Friday after striking up a relationship inside city's open-air prison.

Priya Seth (34), was convicted for the 2018 Jaipur murder of a man she met on a dating app. Hanuman Prasad (29), was convicted in a 2017 Alwar case for killing a man, his three sons, and a nephew after developing a relationship with the man's wife. Both were convicted in 2023 and are serving life imprisonment.


On Jan 7, the Rajasthan High Court had directed the parole committee to decide on their parole applications within seven days, Vishram Prajapat, their counsel, said.
Acting on the order, the committee granted parole to both convicts. "Seth and Prasad walked out of jail for a 15-day parole starting Wednesday," he said.

Their wedding is scheduled in Barodameo, Prasad's native town in Alwar district. Sources said the two have been in a relationship for nearly a year while lodged at the open jail in Sanganer.

An official said that under the Rajasthan Prisoners Open Air Camp Rules, 1972, a six-member committee decides on transferring inmates to the open-air camp, where they are allowed to go out for work and return to the camp each evening.

'Will appeal in HC against the parole'
Opposing the parole, Sandeep Loharia, counsel for the victim's family in the Priya Seth case, said they would challenge the decision. "We were not informed by the committee even after the parole was granted. We will appeal against it in the high court," he said.

Seth came into public focus in May 2018 after the city police found the body of a man packed inside a suitcase on the outskirts of Jaipur. The victim was identified as Dushyant Sharma (27), a resident of the city's Jhotwara area. Police said Sharma met Seth through a dating app. Police later found that he was held captive at her rented flat in Bajaj Nagar, killed, and his body disposed of in a suitcase. She was later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Prasad, on the other, was convicted in a 2017 Alwar case involving the killing of a man, his three sons, and a nephew. Police said Prasad developed a relationship with the man's wife, Santosh Sharma, and the two allegedly conspired to murder the family. The victims were first drugged before Prasad and his accomplices carried out the killings. He was later convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.