The Himachal Pradesh High Court Tuesday commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment for two convicts and acquitted one convict in the 2014 Yug Gupta kidnapping and murder case.
The division bench of Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Rakesh Kainthla commuted the death sentence of Chander Sharma, 23, and Vikrant Bakshi, 25, while acquitting Tajinder Pal, 27. The detailed order is yet to be released.
The district court on September 5, 2018, sentenced the three convicts to death for the brutal killing of Yug Gupta, a four-year-old boy who was abducted for ransom from Shimla’s Ram Bazaar area on June 14, 2014, and later killed.
On August 11, 2023, the high court reserved its judgment in appeals by the convicts. Senior advocates appearing for the appellants had urged the court not to award the death penalty, citing their age, conduct, and family circumstances.
After the high court verdict Tuesday, the victim’s family expressed dissatisfaction. Yug Gupta’s father told the media, “My son was brutally murdered. The sessions court had given all three the death penalty, but now one has been acquitted and two have been given life imprisonment. We are not satisfied with this verdict and will take the fight to the Supreme Court. All the evidence was presented, yet justice has not been served. My son would have been 15 years old today, but even after 11 years, we have not received justice. The one who has been acquitted played the main role — it was in his car that my child was taken away.”
Two years after Yug Gupta’s abduction, in August 2016, his skeletal remains were recovered from a water tank in Bharari. Investigations revealed that the three accused had tied stones around the boy’s neck and thrown him alive into the tank, leading to his drowning.
The heinous nature of the crime sent shockwaves across Himachal Pradesh. On August 6, 2018, after a lengthy trial, the district and sessions court of Virender Singh found all three accused guilty of kidnapping and murder.
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Out of 135 witnesses, 105 testified during the trial. The court delivered an 800-page judgment, terming the crime as belonging to the “rarest of rare” category, and sentenced all three convicts to death.
Investigation and trial timeline
June 14, 2014 – Yug Gupta abducted from Ram Bazaar, Shimla.
August 2016 – Skeletal remains recovered from Bharari water tank.
October 25, 2016 – CID files chargesheet in court.
February 20, 2017 – Trial begins.
August 6, 2018 – Court convicts all three accused.
September 5, 2018 – Death penalty awarded.
August 11, 2023 – High Court reserves verdict after hearing appeals.
September 23, 2025 – High Court commutes two death sentences to life, acquits one convict.
