HP High Court reserves verdict on death sentence in Yug murder case

Shimla, Aug 11,

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has reserved its judgment on the confirmation of the death penalty awarded to three men convicted in the 2014 abduction and murder of four-year-old Yug, a case that shook the state with its brutality.

A special division bench of Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Rakesh Kanthala concluded hearings today on the reference sent by the Sessions Court, Shimla, for confirmation of the capital punishment, alongside the appeals filed by the convicts — Chandra Sharma, Tejindra Pal, and Vikrant Bakshi — challenging their conviction.

In September 2018, the court of District and Sessions Judge Virender Singh declared the crime to be in the “rarest of rare” category, sentencing all three to death. The court found that the accused had kidnapped Yug from Shimla’s busy Ram Bazaar on June 14, 2014, seeking a ransom of ₹3.5 crore from his father.

Two years later, in August 2016, investigators recovered the child’s skeletal remains from a water tank in Bharari. The probe revealed chilling details — the accused had allegedly tied stones to the child and thrown him alive into the tank.

The case sparked statewide outrage, with candlelight marches and public protests demanding swift justice. The CID filed the chargesheet on October 25, 2016, and the trial commenced on February 20, 2017. Over the course of the proceedings, statements from 105 witnesses were recorded, leading to a verdict in just ten and a half months.

With the High Court now reserving its decision, the state awaits the final word on whether the death sentence will be upheld or commuted, and on the outcome of the convicts’ appeals.

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