The Hindu : Death sentence to four of Veerappan gang

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Friday, Jan 30, 2004

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Death sentence to four of Veerappan gang

NEW DELHI, JAN. 29. Terming them as a ``threat and grave danger to society at large,'' the Supreme Court today gave death sentence to four members of the forest brigand Veerappan's gang — Simon, Gnana Prakash, Madhiah and Bilavendra — for killing 22 people, including policemen, and forest officials and injuring 14 (among them a Superintendent of Police, K. Gopalakrishnan) by blowing up the bus in which they were travelling in Karnataka on April 9, 1993. After triggering the landmine blast, the Veerappan men had also opened fire on the police party.

``The appellants are a threat and grave danger to society at large.... It would be a mockery of justice if extreme punishment is not imposed," a Division Bench of Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justice B.N. Agrawal said, converting the life imprisonment awarded to them by a TADA court in Karnataka, into capital punishment.

The court dismissed the appeals preferred by them against the conviction order passed by the TADA court, in view of the "diabolic" and "pre-meditated manner" in which the convicts planned and executed the crime. — PTI

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