MEERUT: The additional district and sessions court of Baghpat on Tuesday awarded life sentences to three men - Rupesh, Ajay, and Rajeev, all in their late 40s and residents of Kishanpur village under Ramala police jurisdiction - for the murder of former Kishanpur gram pradhan Om Pal Singh following a political disputein June 2012. The fourth accused, Avij Singh, died in 2016 due to illness.Additional district judge Meenu Sharma also imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 on three. Half of the amount will be given to the victims family, while the rest will be deposited in government funds.Jaiveer Tomar, the complainants advocate, told TOI, "The deceased was a gram pradhan and was killed due to his political influence in the village."The victims brother, Vijay Singh, told the court, "It was 4pm when I, along with my three brothers, including Om Pal, were sitting at our house when Avij came and took Om Pal with him. We followed them and saw the four thrashing him mercilessly with sticks and bricks before shooting him. We tried to intervene when the convict pointed the gun at us."A complaint filed by Vijay led to an FIR under Sections 302 (murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation). Upon arresting all convicts, one more FIR was lodged under the Arms Act, but the prosecution failed to prove the recovery of weapons.

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