On the night time of her nineteenth birthday on August 23, 2001, Sonia Punia and her husband Sanjeev Kumar dedicated one in all Haryana’s most ugly crimes, bludgeoning to demise eight members of their household, together with her father, former MLA Lel Ram Punia, stepmother, two brothers, one sister-in-law, and three minor youngsters, with iron rods and golf equipment whereas they had been asleep at their residence in Ukrana, Hisar.
Sonia was convicted of homicide together with Sanjeev, and prosecutors linked her to being evicted from Lel Ram’s multibillion-dollar property as a motive.
Twenty-four years after the bloodbath shocked the nation, the Punia household’s property dispute is again within the highlight.
In a current order, Justice Surya Pratap Singh of the Punjab and Haryana Excessive Court docket put aside the Haryana authorities’s refusal to grant Sonia Punia early launch, saying the order was “clearly perverse, unlawful and unsustainable within the eyes of the regulation”.
The Excessive Court docket ordered her case to be reconsidered below the state’s early launch coverage of 2002 and granted her interim bail. Her husband and co-accused, Sanjeev, has acquired comparable aid and each are anticipated to be launched from Hisar Central Jail.
What was the incident?
Ler Ram had constructed a mansion on two acres of land close to the village of Litani in Ukraine. This constructing continues to be thought of one of the luxurious homes (havelis) in Hisar and had direct entry to the second flooring. Lel Lamb is alleged to have pushed the automobile on to her bed room.
Those that had been clubbed to demise included Lel Ram, 50, his second spouse Krishna, 41, and their second daughter Priyanka, 14. He has a son, Sunil (23) from his first marriage, Shakuntala Devi (20, Sunil’s spouse), a son Lokesh (4), and daughters Shivani (2) and Preeti (1.5 months).
The bloodbath befell throughout the tenure of the INLD authorities led by Prime Minister Om Prakash Chautala.
In 2004, the trial court docket convicted Sonia and Sanjeev and sentenced them to demise. The Punjab and Haryana Excessive Court docket sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2005, however the Supreme Court docket upheld the demise sentence in 2007.
In 2013, the Supreme Court docket commuted the demise penalty to life imprisonment, citing delays in processing mercy petitions in addition to the size of time the 2 convicts had already been in custody since their arrest in 2001 (by then 12 years and three months).
The diminished sentences will make the couple eligible for parole or furlough, permitting them to see their solely youngster, Prashant, who was sorted by Sanjeev’s household when he turned 12 in 2013. Sonia and Sanjeev, who’re incarcerated in Ambala Jail, used to satisfy as soon as each two weeks.
Who’s Rel Lamb?
Former Haryana MLA Lel Ram grew up in poverty grazing buffaloes. He then moved to Delhi and washed the truck earlier than beginning driving. Afterwards, he began a crude oil enterprise and amassed an enormous fortune. He purchased over 100 acres of land, constructed mansions in Faridabad and Delhi, and arrange over 13 retailers in several places.
Lel Ram was as soon as thought of near former CM Bansi Lal’s Haryana Vikas Social gathering (HVP). Within the run-up to the 1996 state elections, he was eyeing the HVP ticket. Nevertheless, when HVP didn’t area him, he contested the election as an impartial candidate from Barwala constituency in Hisar. His election image was a practice, and his marketing campaign raised the slogan: “Ler ram ki rail chalegi, bin pani bin tel chalegi.” He received the seat by defeating HVP’s Ananth Ram by a margin of 10,789 votes.
Nevertheless, Lel Lam didn’t enter the fray within the 2000 parliamentary elections.
He first married Oma Devi. Relu and Oma have a son, Sunil, and he and his second spouse, Krishna, have two daughters, Sonia and Priyanka.
What was a property dispute?
Sonia is alleged to be in a dispute together with her brother-in-law Sunil over about 46 acres of farmland surrounding their farm in Ukraine. This usually led to arguments between the 2, with Sonia even threatening Sunil with a revolver within the weeks earlier than the homicide. After the bloodbath, Lel Ram’s youthful brother Ram Singh Punia and his household moved to the farmhouse in 2004.
On the time of her arrest, Sonia had informed investigators throughout custody interrogation, “Papa wished to switch all his property to his brother-in-law Sunil. The paperwork had been already in place. Papa had 100 acres of land, 13 retailers in Nangloi, a mansion in Faridabad, a number of different homes and three vehicles.”
What’s a brand new line?
Shortly after preparations had been made for Sonia and Sanjeev’s launch, a brand new property dispute appears to have began brewing within the Punia household. Sonia wrote a letter to the native authorized workplace from jail, asserting her rights to her father’s property. She argued that she ought to inherit Lel Ram’s property and that her son Prashant was additionally entitled to it. She claimed rights to a mansion in Ritani Mall, farmland in Daulatpur, farmland and several other retailers in Nangloi, and varied different property owned by her father.
Ram Singh’s son Jitendra Punia (Lel Ram’s nephew) has opposed the discharge of Sonia and Sanjeev. He additionally claimed rights to his uncle’s property.
After Lel Ram’s homicide, his varied property had been handed over to Ram Singh, together with his SBI and PNB financial institution accounts. Krishna’s LIC coverage plus PNB financial institution accounts of Krishna, Sunil and Priyanka.
Mr. Jitendra argued that Mr. Ram Singh had the standing of authorized inheritor from the court docket and was due to this fact entitled to obtain Mr. Leru Ram’s property.
Some authorized specialists say that below Part 25 of the Hindu Succession Act, an individual who commits homicide or assists in homicide is disqualified from inheriting the property of the deceased.
