June 12
INDIA:
Godmen get death sentence
4 sadhus and a disciple of the Vadtal Swaminarayan sect were sentenced to
death by a Nadiad sessions court on Friday. The five were convicted for
murdering Swami Gadadharanand, who was chairman of the Vadtal temple
committee, and burning off his body to destroy the evidence a little over
six years ago. Judge Sitaben Dave, while delivering the death sentence,
observed that the accused deserved the severest of punishment for the
heinous crime, as being men of religion, a superior conduct was expected
of them.
"Common men can be expected to have satanic tendencies, but when men of
religion indulge in such acts they need to be given the severest
punishment," the judgement observed. She observed that once in saffron
robes, the sants were supposed to spend lives in the service of God, but
these men had indulged in the gruesome killing of a fellow sant for
personal gains and shook the faith of lakhs of devotees of the sect.
The court also sentenced the accused to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment
under section 201 of the IPC and life term under section 364 of the IPC.
According to case details, the accused - Narayan swami, Shreejisharan
swami, Ghanshyam swami, Madhavprasad swami and Vijaybhagat swami -
kidnapped Swami Gadadharanand from Navli Gurukul in Anand on May 3, 1998.
They mixed sedatives in his soft drink and strangulated him after he fell
unconscious.
(source: Express News of India)
