UTTAR PRADESH: A local court in Shahjahanpur has convicted a British citizen and her lover for the murder of her husband, seven years ago.
Ramandeep Kaur Mann, a UK national, with the help of her childhood friend Gurpreet Singh, killed her husband Sukhjeet Singh on September 2, 2016.
The court convicted the two on the testimony of Ramandeep's nine-year-old son.
Ramandeep planned a month-long family vacation in Uttar Pradesh with her husband and two kids, aged six and nine.
She got 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. However, that night one person had skipped the poisoned dal-rice -- her nine-year-old son -- and survived.
The boy had then told reporters, "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 boy's claims were crucial to the case and local police later filed a supplementary charge sheet with the testimony.
Prosecuting counsel, Ashok Kumar Khanna, said, "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, "Gurpreet 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 Uttar Pradesh because they thought they would get away by spending money."
Sukhjeet's mother, now 75, said, "I am here to fight for my son who was wronged. I want him to get justice."