mumbai

Updated: Oct 13, 2017 12:29 IST

The principal sessions judge on Thursday sentenced Vijesh Sanghavi, 33, convicted for the kidnap and murder of 13-year-old Aditya Ranka in Khetwadi on May 13, 2013, to 30 years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs9lakh.

Aditya was kidnapped by Sanghavi who demanded Rs30 lakh from Aditya’ s father to release him. During investigation, the burnt body of Aditya was recovered near Amba river.

The court imposed life imprisonment on two counts, murder and kidnapping for ransom, while it sentenced him to seven years’ jail term each for extortion and destruction of evidence.

But unlike other cases, where the convict serves his sentences under multiple charges at one go, the court has ordered that Sanghavi would undergo the sentence of each charge one after the other.

Justice SB Agarwal observed, “It is desirable that the accused ought not be released before he completes the actual term of 30 years in jail. I propose that the term of the two 7-year sentences would run consecutively and after the end of these terms, the life sentence shall begin.”

A friend of Aditya’s father, Jitendra, a diamond merchant, Sanghavi was convicted on Monday. The court however, acquitted Ranka’s cousin Himanshu Ranka for want of evidence.

According to the prosecution, Sanghavi and Himanshu had hatched a conspiracy to kidnap Aditya for ransom as they both had suffered huge losses in IPL bets. The prosecution said that Himanshu and Sanghavi were together at the time of kidnapping..

The court, however, observed that though prosecution had succeeded in bringing cogent evidence against Sanghavi,there was nothing against Himanshu. “No doubt, there is a needle of suspicion that points to the involvement of Himanshu along with Sanghavi, but then it is a settled position of law that suspicion, however strong, cannot take place of conviction,” observed Agrawal.

While sentencing Sanghavi, the court rejected the demand of the prosecution for death penalty as the court held that the case does not fall under the category of rarest of the rare case.

The court has said that in case of default of fine amount, Sanghavi will have to undergo further imprisonment. The fine amount the court said, if paid, would go to Ranka’s mother as compensation.