GOURAB MONDAL @ SHANU Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) The appellants herein have impugned the final order and judgment dtd. 31/1/2023 passed in CRA No.167 of 2020 by the High Court at Calcutta, by which it commuted the award of death penalty to life imprisonment, however without the possibility of remission till the end of the appellants' natural lives.

(3.) The brief facts of the case are that on 13/12/2014 at about 3:00 p.m., the appellants contacted the deceased victim's father, demanding ransom in exchange for the victim's return. The next day, i.e. on 14/12/2014, the police arrested three persons including the appellants herein and one juvenile. Based on their statements, the police recovered the victim's dead body from the bank of the river Ganga, where it had been buried in a gunny bag.