KOLKATA: Over a decade after the lynching of a young trader in Sodepur's Gandhinagar, a Barrackpore court on Tuesday sentenced five individuals, including Panihati councillor Tarak Guha, to life imprisonment.
Guha, a councillor from ward 11 of Panihati Municipality, was arrested immediately after appearing in court on Friday for the first time since the 2014 lynching of fish trader Sambhu Chakraborty. The judge convicted him, along with his brother Nepal Guha and three others-Jaydeb Mukherjee, Shyamal Das and Haripada Sarkar. Three other accused-Mallika De, Nava Chakraborty and Buron Das-were acquitted due to a lack of evidence.
The case dates back to Sept 25, 2014, when Chakraborty was allegedly beaten to death by a mob, including Guha and his associates, on suspicion of theft. The incident happened after a mobile phone and Rs 10,000 wee reportedly stolen from a local temple.
Following the attack, Chakraborty's wife, Jyotsna, lodged an FIR. Guha's name surfaced during the investigation.
After nearly 10 years of legal proceedings, Judge Ayan Kumar Bandyopadhyay of the Third Additional District and Sessions Court in Barrackpore found five individuals guilty and awarded them life imprisonment.
After the verdict, Jyotsna said: "I fought for years to get justice for my innocent husband. It was an immense struggle to raise my two children alone. I even had to take jobs as a domestic help to fund their education. No one supported me. They stood by the accused councillor."
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