A serial killer, who used to decapitate his victims and dump the bodies near the Tihar jail daring the police to nab him, was on Monday sent behind bars till death by a Delhi court.
Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau sentenced 44-year-old Chandrakant Jha, a resident of Madhepura in Bihar, to life term in one of the three cases of murder in which he has been convicted. The quantum of sentence in the other two murder cases will be pronounced on February 5 and 6.
"He is sentenced to actual life term. This means he has to remain in jail till his death," the ASJ said. Jha was earlier arrested in 1998 in connection with a murder case but was acquitted for want of evidence.
In December 2007, a Delhi court had acquitted him after the police had failed to file chargesheet against him in another murder case. The court on Monday passed its order in the case relating to killing of Dilip, whose headless body was dumped by Jha near Tihar Jail in 2007.
It had also convicted Jha for killing two others, Amit and Upender, and dumping their headless bodies near Tihar in 2006 and 2007 respectively. After committing the murders, Jha had even challenged the police by writing several letters to them to nab him.
Jha, dressed in white kurta-pyjama and brown cap, was produced by the police in court today at 2.15 pm and looked calm while the sentence was handed down.
According to the police, Jha was involved in at least six murder cases. The court had convicted him for killing the three by relying on circumstantial and forensic evidence, including the views of the handwriting experts establishing the fact that the letters recovered near the bodies were written by Jha.
The Delhi police had filed three separate charge sheets. The police had said Jha had invited his victims to stay with him and took good care of them. After some time, he would get annoyed with them easily and took offence to their activities, it had said.
According to the police, Jha used to tie the hands and feet of the victims before strangulating them.
