Bihar man sentenced to death for murder of nine migrant workers in Warangal

WARANGAL: A Warangal court on Wednesday sentenced a 24-year-old man from Bihar to death by hanging for killing nine migrant workers, including a three-year-old boy, at Gorrekunta village in Geesugonda mandal of Warangal Rural district on May 21.

 The judgement was delivered by First Additional District Sessions Court judge K Jaya Kumar within 36 days of the court taking up the case hearing after remaining shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The seeds for committing the mass murders had been sown much earlier when convict Sanjay Kumar Yadav, a native of Daulatpur in Bihar, killed a woman, Rafika (37), in Andhra Pradesh, who was the niece of Maqsood Alam’s wife Nisha. Rafika was in a relationship with Yadav and wanted to marry him.

But when he developed a relationship with her elder daughter, Rafika confronted Yadav and forced him to marry her (Rafika) immediately. She had even warned him of approaching the police if he refused. On March 11, Yadav took Rafika into a train on the pretext of going to West Bengal to discuss their wedding with her family. But as the train neared Nidadavolu, he strangulated and threw her out.

When Nisha, suspecting foul play, began enquiring about Rafika, Yadav planned to eliminate the entire family. On May 21, he attended the birthday party of Maqsood’s three-year-old grandson at a gunny bags manufacturing unit.

He had brought with him sleeping pills which he mixed in the food and gave it to Alam, his five family members and three migrant labourers from Bihar and Tripura. After they became unconscious, Yadav dropped them, one by one,  in a nearby well that night. Police had filed a 485-page chargesheet on July 28 this  year, while the judicial officials started the trial on September 21. 

Joyous scenes erupt outside Warangal court 

Within 48 days, the case had been brought to its logical conclusion. The police registered the accused under seven Sections of the IPC — 449, 328, 364, 380, 404, 302 and 210.On hearing that the judgment in the case was to be delivered on Wednesday, people had crowded outside the court premises anxiously. When news broke out that the court awarded Yadav the death sentence, they were all overjoyed.

The Warangal police had left no stone unturned in gathering all evidence related to the case in a scientific manner. The police had laboured hard to ensure that there was no lapse from their side in ensuring proper post-mortem examinations, accurate forensic reports and the availability of scientific evidence so that the culprit gets the maximum punishment as per law. They had even mobilised over 67 witnesses.

Brutal mass murders

The seeds for committing the mass murders had been sown much earlier when convict Sanjay Kumar Yadav, a native of Daulatpur in Bihar, killed a woman, Rafika. Police had filed a 485-page chargesheet on July 28 and the trial started on Sept 21