A sessions court, on Friday, sentenced to life in prison four of a family, who had barged into a flat and attacked two brothers in front of their parents and family, leading to their deaths, all over a parking row.
Additional Sessions Judge RM Sadrani, while convicting the four who were related - Rakesh Sharma and Sunil Sharma were brothers and other two - Abhilesh Rai and Brijesh Rai, their brothers-in-law, acquitted a woman accused in the case, also a family member - Sunita Sharma, who was already on bail.
Additional Public Prosecutor Ashwini Rayakar said that the mother, who was the complainant in the case, and father were injured in the attack. The father grievously testified as eye-witnesses in the case, apart from an independent eye witness.
As per the police complaint in Sakinaka Police Station, on May 29, 2012, around 10.45pm, the accused had barged into their flat in a society in Asalpha Link Road and attacked the two brothers - Ashish and Avinash with swords, choppers and sickles in front of their parents, sister and niece. While Ashish, who drove a private vehicle, died on the way to the hospital, Avinash, an LIC agent, succumbed to injuries after a few days.
The attack was a result of a row over parking under the then under-construction Metro project. One of the brothers had had a quarrel with Rakesh Sharma, which had led to a police complaint when Sharma had broken the windshield of the youth’s uncle’s vehicle and had assaulted the youth when he had tried to stop them. Sharma had been arrested and then let out on bail the same day. The attack came on the heels of the arrest as it had irked Sharma and his family. The Sharmas allegedly used to illegally collect parking fee from residents who would park in the government space and lost collections when the family parked their vehicles there.
