Pushkin Chandra killing: Life term for two upheld

The Delhi High Court Monday upheld the life sentence awarded to two men for murdering United Nations Development Programme employee Pushkin Chandra and his friend Kuldeep in south Delhi in 2004.

Chandra, 38, son of a retired Indian Administrative Service officer, and his friend were found dead at his residence in Anand Lok Aug 13, 2004.

The high court dismissed the appeal filed by Moti, 26, and Rajesh Rekwar, 27, who were awarded life imprisonment by the trial court in 2010 for murder and theft. Rekwar, who was on interim bail, was ordered to be taken into custody.

Justice BD Ahmed and Justice Manmohan Singh said: “The prosecution has been able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the appellants had committed the murders of Pushkin Chandra and Kuldeep.”

“The circumstances taken together form a complete chain and point only in the direction of guilt of the two appellants. The appellant Rajesh Rekwar is on interim bail which was granted to him on account of his medical condition. He be taken into custody to serve out the rest of his sentence. The appellant Moti is already in custody,” the bench said in its 31-page judgment.  

Additional Sessions Judge AK Kuhar sentenced Moti and Rekwar and imposed a fine of Rs3,000 on each of them. The trial court acquitted Munna and Jai Kishore, who were accused of being involved in “destruction of evidence” and “keeping the stolen property”, for lack of proof.

While awarding sentence to Rekwar and Moti, the trial court had relied on witness Hare Ram, the domestic help of Chandra's father. Ram identified both the accused as the people last seen with Chandra and Kuldeep.

According to the prosecution, Ram was the first to discover the bodies and the last to have seen the victims alive. He was one of the 37 prosecution witnesses who deposed before the court.

“Chandra's belongings, including a DVD player, that were recovered by police from Rekwar's house also formed the basis of his conviction. The prosecution had also produced photographs clicked at an ATM in which Rekwar was seen withdrawing cash using Chandra's ATM cards,” the charge sheet said.

Rekwar in his disclosure statement claimed that Chandra used to pick him and Moti from Connaught Place to have sex with them. Pornographic tapes of men engaged in same-sex activity were recovered from the murder scene. Pushkin's car and several other belongings were missing, the prosecution said.