a district court in Bihar, India, awarded death sentence

a district court in Bihar, India, awarded death sentence to two persons and sentenced five others to life imprisonment, holding them guilty of abducting Ravinder Singh, an engineer from Punjab and his associate Jarnail Singh from Haryana for ransom. Additional District and Sessions Judge of West Champaran (Bettiah) Sultan Muzaffar delivered the verdict after conducting a speedy trial in the case. As per the prosecution story, the notorious gang of Krishna Yadav had kidnapped Ravinder and Jarnail from outside the Gorakhpur railway station in Uttar Pradesh on November 27, 2011, and kept them under captivity. Subsequently, the gang contacted Ravinder’s brother Rajinder Singh, a businessman in Punjab, and demanded a ransom of Rs 25 lakh for his safe release. Rajinder informed the Bihar police about this incident on December 6, 2011. Acting on the information, the police rescued the two captives from the clutches of their abductors within 24 hours. The police also arrested seven persons, including the gang leader Krishna Yadav from the spot.