After a 15-year-long trial, the Chinsurah court in Hooghly on Tuesday sentenced eight CPM workers to life imprisonment for the murder of Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker Khudiram Hembram in Gurap in 2010. The verdict was delivered by Additional District and Sessions Judge Sanjay Kumar Sharma, who had found the accused guilty on November 6.
According to case records, on March 18, 2010, Hembram was killed in Gurap, allegedly for political reasons. That day, Khudiram’s son was appearing for his higher secondary exams, while the victim had gone to his friend Tapan Ruidas’s house to look after his daughter. He never returned home.
The next day, on March 19, Khudiram’s bloody body was found stuffed inside a sack in the DVC canal. Investigations later revealed that he had been hacked to death and thrown into the canal.
Tapan lodged a complaint at Gurap Police Station the same night, following which police arrested ten CPM workers. The accused were charged under multiple sections, including murder, destruction of evidence, and possession of weapons.
The eight convicted CPM workers are Lalu Hansda, then chief of Gurbari-1 Panchayat, Ravi Baske, Laxmi Ram Baske, Siddheshwar Malik, Sanatan Malik, Ganesh Malik, Laxminarayan Soren and Nadu Tudu. Two others, Amar Ruidas and Nepal Malik, who were also accused, died during the trial.
The charges were framed on June 27, 2017, and the trial began. Over the years, 12 witnesses testified, including four eyewitnesses. All eight convicts had been out on bail during the trial.
The court initially planned to announce the sentence on November 7, but it was postponed after seeking the views of both prosecution and defense lawyers. On Tuesday, the final judgment was delivered, ordering that the convicts be kept in separate cells.
Public prosecutor Chandicharan Banerjee said, “We had requested the maximum punishment. The court has sentenced each of them to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000. In default, they will serve one additional year in prison.”
Hooghly’s Chief Public Prosecutor Shankar Gangopadhyay remarked, “The verdict took almost 15 years, but neither the prosecution nor the court was responsible for the delay. Some accused had absconded during the trial. After their arrest and the completion of evidence collection, the trial resumed properly.”
Khudiram’s widow, Malti Hembram, expressed mixed feelings after the verdict. “It would have been better if they were sentenced capital punishment. My husband is gone forever. The children were small, and I raised them with great difficulty,” she said tearfully.
Dhanekhali MLA Asima Patra of TMC welcomed the judgment, saying, “The CPM’s armed cadres had tortured many TMC in the area. After we came to power in 2011, we worked to ensure justice for such families. Khudiram was brutally hacked to death, his body dragged and thrown into the canal. The court has given a fair verdict.”
However, while leaving the court, the convicts claimed innocence, alleging they had been framed for political reasons because of their CPM affiliation.
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