GHAZIABAD: Six people have been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Ghaziabad court for killing a four-year-old boy in Hapur 10 years ago over a land dispute.The accused — Veer Singh , Vishnu, Satendra, Suresh, Munesh and Indrapal, all residents of Solana village — were convicted by the court of additional district judge Satya Prakash Tripathi, which also imposed a fine of Rs 60,000 on each of them and ordered that 50% of the collected amount be given to the victim’s family on Thursday.Farmer Manoj Kumar , a resident of Solana village in Hapur, had accused the six suspects, who were his distant relatives, of kidnapping and murdering his son Shobhit on March 12, 2009.Subsequently, an FIR was lodged against the six men. Veer Singh’s minor son was also found to be involved in the murder, and he was tried separately by the Juvenile Justice Board.Additional district government counsel (ADGC) Rajendra Singh Kasana said, “On March 12, 2009, Kumar had gone to visit a Sai temple in Hapur’s Sapnawat along with his wife, son and other relatives. At the temple, Shobhit wanted to have an ice cream, so Kumar sent him to a nearby stall with one of his relatives, Avnit.”At the ice cream stall, they met Veer Singh’s minor son and his uncle Vishnu. The duo bought ice cream for Shobhit and coaxed him to stay with them, buying some more for the rest of the family. The accused asked Avnit to take the ice creams to Kumar and the others, Kasana added. After a while, Veer Singh’s minor son came to the spot where Kumar was and sought to know if Shobhit was with them, saying the latter was not with the accused. Kumar filed a missing-person’s complaint the same day.Two days later, Shobhit’s body was found in Mohammadpur Paswara village. The post-mortem report revealed that the boy had been strangulated.“The two parties had a dispute a few days before Shobhit had gone missing. At that time, the village panchayat had made both sides reach a compromise,” Kasana said.

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