To realise her plan, Ramandeep plotted a month-long family vacation in UP with her husband of 11 years and two kids aged six and nine.Midway, she picked up Gurpreet, a native of Kapurthala in Punjab, and brought the two men to Shahjahanpur, where she poisoned the entire family before slitting her hubby’s throat. But that night one person had skipped the dal-rice for Maggi, her elder son and eventual eyewitness to the crime.
In 2016, the boy had told TOI: “My dad was great but my mom was bad and I don’t want to see her face ever because she killed my dad in front of my eyes. She kept a pillow on my dad’s face and asked Gurpreet to slit his throat.” The TOI report on the boy’s claims was crucial to the case and local police later filed a supplementary chargesheet with the testimony.
Prosecuting counsel, Ashok Kumar Khanna, told TOI on Thursday, “The court of additional district and sessions judge Pankaj Kumar Srivastava in Shahjahanpur pronounced Ramandeep and Gurpreet guilty under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 34 (criminal acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and will decide the quantum of punishment on October 7.
He added: “Gupreet has also been convicted under section 4/25 of the Arms Act. This is a rarest of the rare case as the victim’s throat was slit in front of his nine-year-old son. We want capital punishment for both the accused who were sent to Shahjahanpur jail on Thursday.”
Khanna said: “Gurpreet during his confession in front of the police said that he and Ramandeep planned to commit the murder in UP because they thought they would get away by spending money.” Sukhjeet’s mother, now 75, told TOI, “I’m here to fight for my son. I stood strong even during the pandemic. My son was wronged. I want him to get justice.”