INDIA. THREE SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR CHILDREN'S MURDER

for the first time in recent history, a sessions court in Bangalore, India, sentenced to death three youths for kidnapping and murdering two children at Eklaspura village in Raichur.
Beevulal alias Sanjay, 18, Kishan, 18, and Chandrashekhar, 19 were found guilty of abducting six-year-old Vishal and his brother, Nikhil, 7, from their house in Viveknagar on March 24, 2003. Police said the children were bludgeoned to death with boulders at an isolated place in Raichur. The three were sentenced to death by the Fourth Additional Sessions judge, B. Yoginath. Police investigations revealed that the three youths were employed by the victims' father, Gautamchand. Beevulal and Kishan reportedly hatched the abduction plan to demand a ransom from Gautamchand as they were not happy with their job salary. The Viveknagar police, on receiving a complaint from Gautamchand, fixed a caller ID machine to his telephone and traced the calls made by the abductors to a public phone booth in Raichur. A special team arrested the accused on March 26, 2003.