KHONSA, May 19: A murder case that awaited a concrete juridical outcome for the last 22 years saw the conclusion today with District and Sessions Court, Khonsa convicting the accused u/s 302, 380 and 201 of the IPC and sentencing him to life imprisonment along with other concurrent sentences besides fine. 
The case dates back to 1999 when on August 1 of that year the accused Rabidhan Chakma alias Swapan Kumar Chakma of Diyun taking advantage of Santosh Kumar Hajong’s drunken condition, murdered him brutally. The duo were not in good terms with each other over a homestead land dispute and on the day of incident after getting information that Santosh was lying on the road in a drunken state which will make him unable to resist any attack, Rabidhan went to the spot and hit his head with a big stone that broke his skull and damaged the frontal part of the brain. To mislead the locals and police, Rabidhan then stole a bicycle from Jyotipur village and kept the same near the dead body to create an impression that the death was caused due to a bicycle accident.
Meanwhile, as the investigation progressed SI Amar Nath Singh of Diyun PS found that deceased Santosh did not possess any bicycle and the one found on the spot of crime actually belonged to some other person of Jyotipur village which was stolen on the same night. 
Subsequently, it was revealed that accused Rabidhan murdered Santosh in a cold-blooded manner to extract revenge arising out of their previous enmity and the confessional statement was recorded by the JMFC, Diyun. Initially, the case was pending before the court of the Deputy Commissioner, Changlang and then transferred to FTC, Namsai and thereafter to the District and Sessions Court, East Session Division, Tezu.  However, after the creation of Sessions Court, Khonsa the case was taken up by District and Sessions Judge H. Kashyap. Accused Rabidhan who was granted bail previously was therefore re-arrested.

Rabidhan has been convicted under Section 302 for the offence of murder, 380 for committing theft in a dwelling house and 201 for tampering of evidence for evading legal punishment. DIPRO

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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