Man convicted for murder, sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment

DARJEELING, : Forty-five-year old Punya Prakash Gurung of Lebong was on Friday sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment by a court here for the murder of 57-year old Shanti Gurung making it the second life sentence this week by a Darjeeling court.

Darjeeling PP Pranoy Rai said, “Punya who is from Garigoan of Ging T.E. in Lebong was sentence to rigorous life imprisonment today by the District and Sessions Judge today after finding him guilty for the murder of Shanti who lived in the same village.”

According to Rai, the incident took place on 29th July 2024 when Punya with bad intentions had gone to the house of Topchey Gurung, the husband of Shanti when he was not there.

“A fist fight followed in the bathroom there with Punya hitting her with blows and kicks mercilessly. Later she was found by the villagers lying there in a pool of blood and taken to the hospital where she was declared brought dead. She had succumbed to her injuries,” said Rai.

The Darjeeling PP informed that a charge sheet was filed on 25^th October 2024 in the Darjeeling Sadar PS with 17 witnesses examined in the case along with a forensic examination also conducted.

Speaking about the rigorous life imprisonment verdict twice in a row, Rai said, “The conviction rate here is one of the highest in West Bengal due to which the murder rate has decreased to below one per cent and incidents of trafficking, rape and other heinous crimes like dacoity with murder also gone down to zero per cent. However, small petty crimes like robbery and drug cases do exist.”

Rai said that the conviction rate at present was about 98 per cent.

On Wednesday, another man was sentenced for rigorous life imprisonment for the murder of his mother. The case also dated back to the year 2024.