The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The two men involved in the murder case of a 48-year-old Indian man on the night of November 7 last year at Changjalu, Thimphu have been convicted by Thimphu District Court on April 21.
The verdict was passed by the Bench I of the district court.
The convicts were given nine years of prison term each for the murder while one of them was slapped with an addition of six months of imprisonment for possession of controlled substances.
Also the convicts have been ordered to pay a compensation of Nu 3,394,300 to the family of the deceased. The amount has to be divided between the two of them. The said amount has to be paid within the span of 10 days.
Both of them were charged for involuntary manslaughter and armed robbery by the court.
The two convicts, aged 19 and early 20s, had stabbed the deceased in his right thigh and then left him to die last year.
The body of the victim was found at a construction site at Changjalu early next morning on November 7 and police were informed about the body.
The deceased who was later identified as a chief engineer of a Delhi-based company, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited that was helping Bhutan Power Corporation (BPC) in the transmission of power from Punatshangchhu Project (PHPA) II to Jigmeling.
The deceased had arrived in the country from New Delhi for a two-day meeting on November 6, along with two officials from India.
On that tragic night, the two convicts had met the victim near the Jojo’s building after playing football at the Changlimithang ground at around 10:00 pm. After a brief conversation, they became friends and headed for one of the local drayangs located in Olakha.
They broke into an argument inside the drayang and all three of them were in a drunken state. The three of them came out of the drayang, where the argument continued which then led to a fight between them below the drayang.
The 19-year-old convict had stabbed the victim on the right thigh with a dagger and robbed a wallet from the victim that contained Nu 8,500 and a mobile phone, and had fled the scene.
It is believed that the incident might have taken place at around 12:30 am, and the victim had died due to excessive bleeding from the stab wound.
Police and medical team reached the crime scene the next morning after joggers had spotted the body and informed police immediately at around 6:45 am.
At the crime scene, police found the cover of the dagger which led to identification of the weapon’s owner.
On investigation, police managed to locate the owner of the dagger, however, the two convicts had borrowed the dagger from him.
The two convicts were identified based on the statement received from the owner of the dagger.
They were arrested at the Kharbandi check point at different time intervals. Since one of them had switched vehicles at Gedu, one was arrested at around 7:30 pm and the other after an hour later by the Phuentsholing police.
Two of them were detained by Phuentsholing police and the culprits who were brought back to the capital the next day. The police recovered Nu 8,000 and the mobile phone.
Meanwhile, the third man, the owner of the dagger, was not arrested because he was not involved in the case.
The two convicts were unemployed and school drop-outs. The deceased was a frequent visitor to the country and had also worked as an engineer with PHPA- I.
Chencho Dema
