A Chandigarh sessions court has sentenced a 35-year-old man, Ajay, to life imprisonment for murdering his younger brother and injuring his mother and another brother in a knife attack at their residence in Daddu Majra Colony in November 2023. Additional sessions judge Amit Kumar Grover held that the prosecution successfully proved its case beyond reasonable doubt through consistent eyewitness testimony, medical reports, and scientific findings.The court also highlighted that medical evidence, including the post-mortem report confirming that Rahul suffered eight injuries, and forensic reports linking human blood to the recovered weapon, solidified the case. (HT File)According to the prosecution, the incident occurred on the night of November 1, 2023. The complainant, Meenakshi, wife of the injured brother Anil, stated that Ajay, who was under the influence of intoxicants, quarreled with his mother and left the house. He returned shortly after, armed with a knife, and attacked his mother, Kamla, and brothers, Anil and Rahul. Following the attack, the victims were rushed to the Government Multi-Speciality Hospital, Sector 16, and later referred to PGIMER. Rahul succumbed to his injuries on November 5.The police arrested Ajay near the Daddu Majra community centre, and a spring-actuated knife was recovered from his home based on his disclosure statement. The prosecution examined 20 witnesses, including Anil and Meenakshi, whose testimonies remained consistent. Although their mother, Kamla, turned hostile claiming all three sons had been drinking and she could not identify the attacker, the court relied on the testimony of the injured witness, Anil. The judge noted that an injured witness is unlikely to falsely implicate a sibling while sparing the true assailant.Rejecting the defence’s claim of false implication due to a property dispute, the court observed that discrepancies in testimony were not material enough to discredit the eyewitnesses. The court also highlighted that medical evidence, including the post-mortem report confirming that Rahul suffered eight injuries, and forensic reports linking human blood to the recovered weapon, solidified the case.The court convicted Ajay under Sections 302 (murder), 324 (causing hurt with a dangerous weapon), and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code, along with the Arms Act. While the defence sought leniency, citing Ajay’s clean record and his responsibilities toward his wife and two children, the court ruled that the gravity of the crime warranted life imprisonment. The judge declined the death penalty, noting that the case did not fall under the “rarest of rare” category, but imposed a total fine of ₹35,000 to be paid as compensation to the victim’s heirs.