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'My sister's soul can rest in peace'

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Mumbai

Tears welled in the eyes of Gullu Singh as sessions judge S P Nikam announced that all the four accused in the Priya Rajvansh case were sentenced to life imprisonment.

"My sister's soul can at last rest in peace," said Gullu, who came from London on July 29 just to hear the verdict. "She always told me that her life was in danger. And, I am glad justice has been done."

Gullu did not expect that three years after the death of noted film director Chetan Anand on July 6, 1997, his sister would meet such a tragic death.

"I feel sad that even Vijay Anand (Chetan Anand's younger brother) never told the truth in the court. He tried to save his nephews. But I am grateful to god that the judge did not believe the defence theory and gave the verdict in our favour," added Gulu.

Priya was a long-time companion of Chetan Anand. She died on March 27, 2000 after Chetan Anand's sons, Vivek and Ketan, conspired to kill her with the help of their maid Mala Choudhary and her distant relative Ashok Chinnaswamy.

The reason for her death, according to the prosecution, was the will of Chetan Anand, which said that three-fourths of his bungalow should go to Priya Rajvansh and the remaining should be shared between Ketan and Vivek.

Both Ketan and Vivek were irked by the fact that Priya, who had not married their father, got the lion's share from his property.

At the time of the murder, the police registered a case of accidental death because Ketan and Vivek said that she died after falling in the bathroom.

"However, we found later that Priya was strangulated to death after being hit with a sharp object on the head," said police officer Suresh Nalawade who solved the mystery.

"More details came out during the investigations as we came to know that both the brothers wanted to sell the Juhu bungalow and Priya was not keen to do the same. We then found letters, in which she wrote stating that her life was in danger," said Nalawade.

But the big catch for the police came when a witness, Suresh Arumugham (16), a distant relative of Maya, told the officers that he had heard the conspirators planning to kill Priya Rajvansh one day before the murder took place.

Ketan and Vivek Anand were arrested on April 4, 2000. So were the conspirators of the crime, Mala Choudhary and Ashok Chinnaswamy.

However, Ketan and Vivek were released on bail on September 7, 2000, while the investigation was still going on.

Meanwhile, the police found 29 more witnesses, who could stand against the four accused. They also found all the letters written by Rajvansh to her friends and the personal diaries in which she had stated that her life was in danger.

Kiran Makasare, public prosecutor, said, "The judge had charged them under section 302 (murder) and 120-b (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced them to life imprisonment. I am happy that justice has been done."

Milind Manohar Godbole, defence lawyer for Mala and Ashok, said that his clients would appeal against the judgment in the Mumbai high court soon after they get a copy of it.

"We have to first see on what grounds the judgement was given and we will see which witness has been believed and which witness has been not," added Godbole.

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