Indian Air Force former sergeant sentenced to death

A local court has sentenced a former Indian Air Force sergeant to death for the murder of a 27-year-old corporal in February 2017. Additional District and Sessions Judge Kanwaljeet Singh Bajwa sentenced Sailesh Kumar to death for the murder of Vipin Shukla of Uttar Pradesh when both were posted at Bhisiana Air Force Station. The verdict was pronounced on Friday, officials said.

The court also sentenced Kumar's wife to five years rigorous imprisonment for destruction of evidence.

The corporal had gone missing in February 2017. After thirteen days, his body was found chopped and packed in polythene bags, as per the police's investigation.

The sessions judge observed the accused, a member of the armed forces, should have shown courage in some other field, "in place of butchery".

He said, "It would be a mockery of justice and the conscience of society would be shocked, if the death penalty was not awarded to him as his act was abhorrent and dastardly. This is surely a case which falls within the category of rarest of rare cases."

According to prosecuting advocate Sunil Tripathi, "We had sought it to be marked as rarest of rare case during the arguments to which the judge acceded."

According to the prosecution, the victim's wife told the police that Vipin left home at the Bhissiana Airbase on February 8, 2017, but did not return. She and her father-in-law began searching for him.

On February 21, they overheard two youngsters saying a stench was emanating from the sergeant's residential quarters and alerted the police.

The police found body parts packed in plastic bags kept in the refrigerator and wardrobe. As per the police, Shukla had illicit relations with Kumar's wife and had planned to kill the corporal.