AGRA: The court of additional district and sessions judge in Firozabad sentenced an 84-year-old man, Mahendra Singh, to life imprisonment in connection with a murder case registered 49 years ago. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the convict.Additional district government counsel Shrinarayan Saxena said that Meera Devi, a local resident, filed a complaint on September 14, 1974, accusing Singh of shooting her mother dead.For 39 years, no proceedings took place in the case: ADGCR am Beti, the victim, was shot in the marketplace under Narkhi police limits, then part of Agra district. According to the FIR, Singh killed the woman on the instructions of local resident Ram Murti, who was having a dispute with the victims family. The ADGC added: For about 39 years, no proceedings took place in the case. Transfer of the case from Agra to Firozabad also resulted in the delay. The accused managed to get fake documents claiming to be the son of Gopi Chand, instead of Panna Lal. On the basis of these documents, he claimed that he wasnt involved in the crime, managing to secure orders against his arrest from the Allahabad high court. The trial, however, continued and the court later observed he had faked his identity and issued a warrant for his arrest on November 11, 2021. Saxena said, Mahendra Singh was finally arrested on April 4, 2022, and sent to jail. Most of the witnesses died during the trial. A charge sheet was filed and the statement by the victims daughter who was present at the crime scene and a local resident played a crucial role in the conviction. The order was issued by additional district and sessions judge, Jitendra Gupta, on Thursday. Earlier in June, a 90-yearold man was sentenced to life by the Firozabad district and sessions court for his role in the killings of 10 people from the Dalit community 42 years ago (in 1981). Ganga Dayal was among 10 accused in the case, nine others had died during the trial.

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