Eight sentenced to life for killing lawyer

KANPUR: As many as eight persons were convicted for committing the murder of a lawyer. Additional district and sessions judge Ram Krishna Gautam sentenced for life imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 40,000 each.
The sentenced persons belong to a family. They were identified as Mushtaq, Ashfaq, Ishtiyaq, Sartaj, Manzoor (all siblings) Pappu alias Ashraf, his son Mushtaq, Nisar and Izhar, all residents of NawabSahabKaHata in Gwaltoli.
Slain lawyer Yusuf Ali was a resident of Nawab Saheb Ka Hata at Civil Lines in Gwaltoli. He was related to the sentenced persons and their great grandfather was the same person. The two sides were involved in a property dispute. Yusuf Ali was a retired Air Force employee and he had adopted legal profession after retirement.
On October 2, 2001, a room was vacated by a tenant in the disputed house and sentenced persons in a bid to took possession over that room reached there.
Yusuf Ali first asked them to go back and later opened fire in the air from his gun to terrorise them. The accused snatched his gun and broke it into pieces. Thereafter, they beat Yusuf Ali mercilessly with lathis and blunt weapons. Injured Yusuf Ali fell on ground and became unconscious. He was shifted to Air Force hospital where he succumbed to injuries after four days.
A chargesheet was filed in the case against eight persons in January 2002. During trial, the prosecution had presented eight witnesses and all supported the version of prosecution.
The sentenced persons had filed a cross case against four persons, including complainant Mohammad Shaqeel to get a cover and weaken the gravity of their offence. The police had registered their case under section 307 IPC. But since there was no injury, the judge acquitted the four persons named as Chand, Zulfikar, Shakeel and Hamida, wife of Yusuf Ali.