life imprisonment for twin murders

The Additional Session’s Judge first court on Wednesday convicted Shakti Mondol and Sanju Roy of Kawakhali, Matigara of murdering a hotel manager and a waiter in Darjeeling three years ago and sentenced them to rigorous life imprisonment.
On January 21, 2012 police recovered the bodies of Sandip Rai (19) and Mohammad Mustafa (35) from a room of the annexure in Hotel Meghma on Gandhi Road. Rai, a resident of 3rd Mile, was the manager of the hotel, while Islampur resident Mustafa was a waiter who also doubled up as a cleaner for a bank located on the ground floor of the hotel.
Mondol and Roy, plumbers by profession, were arrested from Kawakhali on January 29, 2012. “The accused were charged under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC and sent to the Darjeeling correctional home. Additional session’s judge (first court) Partho Pritam Chakraborty today sentenced the two to rigorous life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs5,000 each failing to furnish which will invite an additional prison term of six months,” said public prosecutor Pranay Rai after the judgment.
Sailendra Gurung, who used to supervise construction work at the annexure, had filed a complaint at the Darjeeling sadar police station  after he found Rai and Mustafa lying in a pool of blood in room 102.
According to the PP, a police probe revealed that on January 19, 2012 one of the deceased had had a telephonic conversation with one Jayanta Biswas, a plumber. “It was found that Mustafa had spoken to Biswas over phone and in the morning of January 20, the latter arrived with three others including the two convicts. The four were accommodated in room 102 of the hotel,” Rai said, adding Biswas and the fourth person were still on the run.
He said the police examined 25 witnesses out of whom 21 have deposed before the court and this helped expedite the investigation. “Some of the hotel employees had seen the four men in room 102 on January 19 but they had disappeared when the bodies were found the following day,” said Rai.
The police also found out that Mustafa had the keys to the bank as construction work was in progress and because of a shortage of workers. It was discovered that Mondol and Roy intended to rob the bank as it did not have a security guard then. (EOIC)