Around seven years ago, on October 29, 2018, Sunita, a resident of Outer Delhi’s Bawana, was leaving her house for Sonepat in Haryana, where she worked as a teacher in a government school. Within a few minutes after she left home, she was shot by two assailants on a bike. She sustained three bullet injuries and was declared dead.
For three straight days, police tried collecting evidence in the form of CCTV footage. Sunita’s children were questioned. Investigators found out about the victim’s personal diary, which led to a breakthrough — her husband was having an affair that led to tensions between the couple.
On Monday, a Delhi court convicted seven people in the murder case — Sunita’s husband Manjeet Sehrawat; Delhi-based model Angel Gupta, who had an affair with Manjeet; Angel’s stepfather Rajeev Gupta; his driver Deepak Gupta; the driver’s maternal uncle Dharmender; and shooters Vishal and Shehzad Saifi.
“…I am of the considered view that the prosecution has successfully proved the motive against accused Manjeet Sehrawat and Angel Gupta. They were not ready to part ways at any cost, and deceased Sunita was not ready to allow them to continue with their relationship… That is why the accused had a strong motive to eliminate her,” noted Special Judge Dhirendra Rana of Rohini Court in his order.
“… The diary of the deceased has proved the fact that accused Sehrawat and Gupta were entangled in an extramarital affair,” underlined the court.
The flashpoint before the murder was believed to be an alleged conversation between Sehrawat and Angel that he would be celebrating Karwa Chauth with his wife. Upon hearing this, the model allegedly threatened to end her life. This was followed by the hatching of a murder plot by Sehrawat and Angel.
There was no scope for divorce between Sehrawat and Sunita, the court underlined on Monday. “The conspiracy is duly proved beyond a reasonable doubt based on bank transactions, mobile locations, CCTV footage, FSL reports, highly improbable human conduct, recovery of cars, a motorcycle, and weapons. All the accused actively participated while pursuing the criminal conspiracy,” said Judge Rana.
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While Sehrawat, Angel, Deepak, Vishal, Dharmender, and Shehzad have been convicted for the offences of murder and criminal conspiracy, the two shooters were additionally convicted under sections of the Arms Act. “The weapons recovered from Shehzad and Vishal were found to have been used in the murder of the deceased, and the cause of death is found to be injuries suffered by the deceased due to gunshot injuries,” stated the court.
An amount of Rs 10 lakh was paid to the shooters, and photographs and details of the deceased, along with her school route, were provided to them by the other accused, the court noted.
