Korba: The Korba District and Sessions Court sentenced five persons including a woman to life imprisonment for their involvement in the murder of Congress leader Harish Kanwar his wife Sumitra Kanwar and their four-year-old daughter Yashika Kanwar. Harish was the son of son of former Deputy CM of undivided Madhya Pradesh late Pyarelal Kanwar.
This brutal case of triple murder occurred on April 21, 2021 in Bhaisma under Rampur assembly constituency of Korba district. Additional Government Advocate of District and Sessions Court Korba, Krishna Kumar Dwivedi said the incident had occurred at around 4 am on April 21, 2021 at Bhaisma village under Urga police station. The culprits had attacked Harish and his family and hit them on their faces, head, neck, nose ears and legs resulting in their deaths.
Harbhajan Singh, the prime accused, is the elder son of late Pyarelal. He, along with his wife, brother-in-law and others had conspired to kill his Harish and his family. The murder was the fallout of a property dispute between the brothers. Those who were convicted for the murder are Harbhajan, his wife Dhankunwar, brother-in-law Parmeshwar Kanwar and Parmeshwar's friends Ramprasad Kanwar and Surendra Singh Kanwar.
During investigation, the police used a text message from a mobile phone as evidence. The message read, "The house is empty, you people come here". This message was sent by Harbhajan to Parmeshwar's mobile phone. The message helped the police crack the case and arrest the accused. As part of the plan, Parmeshwar reached Harish's house on a bike with his friends Surendra and Ramprasad.
The conspiracy to murder Harish was hatched earlier and shortly before the incident, Harbhajan had gone out for a morning walk with Dhankunwar and their daughter. The door of the house was left open and Harish was sleeping in the room with his family. During this time, the killers brutally murdered the three with a sharp weapon. Apart from the text message, the testimony of Harish's mother Janki Bai was quite vital in securing the conviction for the culprits. Janki Bai was present in the house at the time of the incident. However, the killers spared her. While committing the murder, the culprits had tried to intimidate Janki Bai by strangulating her but then they left her after she became unconscious. When the killers were attacking Harish, his wife and daughter, Janki Bai was present in the house and recognized Parmeshwar.
After committing the heinous crime, the culprits threw two country weapons used in the murder in a dam near Bhaisma. They were also charged with trying to destruct evidence. Dwivedi said the hearing of the case was being conducted at the Third Additional Sessions Court of Korba. The court of Judge Sunil Kumar Nande convicted the five and sentenced them to life imprisonment under sections 120B/34 (conspiracy), 201 (destruction of evidence), 302 (murder) and 406 (betrayal) of IPC.
