2 get life terms for kidnap, murder of 10-year-old boy

Aurangabad: The district and sessions court on Friday sentenced two convicts to life imprisonment till death on the charges of kidnap and murder of 10-year-old Vardhan Ghode for a ransom of Rs 5 crore. Both the sentences will run concurrently.

District and sessions judge V V Patil pronounced the quantum of sentence on Friday, after convicting the duo on Monday on the charges of murder, criminal conspiracy, kidnapping and destruction of evidence. “The court slapped life sentence on the counts of murder and kidnap,” special public prosecutor Ajay Misar told TOI.

Vardhan Vivek Ghode, a Class IV student who resided in Amrut Gurukunj Housing Society in Tilaknagar, was the son of a builder from Thane. Following his father’s death, Vardhan, along with his mother and younger brother, moved to Aurangabad to stay with his grandfather Yashwant Pujari, a retired RTO officer.

It was during his stay at his grandparents’ place that Vardhan was abducted by Abhilash Sudhir Mohanpurkar (24)—a BCom drop out and the son of a city based builder, and Sham Laxman Magre (21)—hailing from Nizamabad who resided with Mohanpurkars in Gurukunj Housing Society.

The duo knew the Ghode family very well and were also aware of their financial status. They kidnapped Vardhan on February 27, 2017 and left a two-page letter at his residence demanding a ransom of Rs 5 crore. In the letter, the accused threatened the family with dire consequences.

Later, the accused, who had smothered the boy to death, had dumped his dead body at a nearby nullah. The case was detected within hours of the abduction.

Following the pronouncement of the sentence, special public prosecutor Ajay Misar appreciated Aurangabad police for carrying out an excellent probe in the absence of eye-witnesses in the case, eventually leading to the conviction of the accused. “The conviction, in this case, is an eye-opener for criminals. I am sure that in the long-run, it will act as deterrent for criminals,” said Misar.

While probing the case, it came to the fore that the duo hatched a conspiracy to kidnap the boy and seek ransom to make easy money. The idea of kidnapping struck them after watching television serials based on criminal activities.

Misar also said that the manner in which Aurangabad police inspectors Avinash Aghav and Manish Kalyankar investigated the case and zeroed in on the suspects would be taken up as a case study at the Maharashtra Police Academy as an ideal case of quality investigation.

During the day, Aurangabad commissioner of police Chiranjeev Prasad along with Misar addressed newsmen and explained the gravity of the case.

“Many a times, criminals are of the view that the cases against them will end in acquittal. By carrying out quality investigation, criminals can be proved wrong,” said Prasad. He also appealed to parents to keep a close watch on the activities of their wards.