Court awards life term to four for Chartered Accountant's murder

A local court awarded life imprisonment to four convicts for the murder of a chartered accountant six years ago on Monday, three days after they were held guilty.

The court also slapped a fine of Rs 30,000 each on Kanav Arora, Ashwinder Singh, both residents of Sector 21, Mandeep Singh, a resident of Mohali, and Shiv Kumar of Ropar.

Calling it the rarest of rare case, the judge, in his order, stated, "The convicts perished a valuable life at the prime of his age under the garb of money. The court declared that the fine amount, if realized, should be given to the widow of the victim, Rajesh Goyal."

Goyal was found murdered at his office in Sector 42 in May 2007. According to the police, the accused had embezzled crores of rupees from Goel's firm. They had allegedly siphoned off Rs 1.9 crore a client of the victim had earned through share trading. Police said they feared if Goyal came to know about the cheating, he would inform the police.

Goyal's peon Kamlesh had told the police that he had seen four men in blood-stained clothes coming down from the first floor of the office and leaving in a car. But he later turned hostile. However, Arvinder Singh Bedi, a client of Goel, had identified the accused, whom, he had seen coming out of the deceased's office. Police had also recovered the knives and blood-stained clothes. Their CFSL report had come out positive.

Six-year-long battle for widow

Sonia, the wife of the chartered accountant, was at peace after six long years. "I fought this battle alone. Many people discouraged me but I was determined to take the case to its logical end and get justice. I never thought of quitting and always maintained belief in judiciary," said the mother of a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old. (Times of India)