Bulandshahr (UP), Jul 9 (PTI) A local court here on Wednesday sentenced three individuals to life imprisonment for the murder of a man during a goat theft attempt in May 2022.

Government counsel Bhupendra Singh said Mahendra, a resident of Danpur village under Debai police station limits, was shot dead by unknown assailants while he was sleeping in his enclosure on the night of May 12, 2022. Following a complaint filed by the deceased's son, a case was registered at the Debai police station.

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Investigations led to the arrest of three accused -- Ahsan, Seth and Sonu. During questioning, the accused confessed to being involved in nightly goat thefts.

"They admitted that on May 12, 2022, they had gone to Mahendra's enclosure in Danpur to steal goats. However, Mahendra woke up and caught Seth, prompting him to raise an alarm.

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"In response, Seth allegedly pulled out a country-made pistol and shot Mahendra, killing him," said Singh.

"The court of Additional District Judge (ADJ) Vineet Chaudhary of Anupshahr found all three accused guilty of the crime and awarded them life imprisonment sentences and ordered (them) to pay a fine of Rs 20,000 each," said Singh.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)