Meerut : Pappu Kori, 45, whose son Govind was killed along with his lover Asha in Budaun nine years ago, said he will approach Supreme Court to challenge Allahabad high court’s acquittal of four members of the woman’s family, despite having gone into debt while pursuing the case. The four had been convicted and sentenced to death by a Budaun court in 2022, but HC set aside their conviction on Sept 8 after finding that the evidence against them raised suspicion but did not establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Govind and Asha were killed on May 14, 2017. A Budaun court convicted all four on Sept 17, 2022, and sentenced them to death.
However, a division bench of Justices Atul Sreedharan and Achal Sachdev acquitted them on Sept 8, observing that the evidence “only pointed to suspicion”. An FIR was registered at Wazirganj police station on Pappu’s complaint. Prosecution’s case was that Asha’s relatives — Vijay Pal, Ramveer, Kishan Lal and his wife Jaldhara — opposed her relationship with Govind and attacked him after inviting him to their home. HC found the eyewitness accounts doubtful, noted that neighbours had not been examined and pointed to inconsistencies regarding the weapon used. It also noted that the blood group could not be determined.
The order was made available on Monday.
He said he had borrowed Rs 5.5 lakh to pursue the case before trial court and still owed Rs 1 lakh.
“Even if I have to sacrifice my life, I will fight for my son,” Pappu told TOI on Wednesday. “When I told my lawyers I didn’t have more money, they advised me, after the death penalty, not to go to HC after the convicts challenged the verdict,” he said.