Bombay HC awarded Death Sentence to 4 in the 2003 Maharashtra Murder Case

The Bombay High Court on 17 October 2011 upheld the death sentence awarded to four convicts for murdering 10 people in 2003.

The judges described the offence as rarest of rare cases for giving capital punishment and observed that the accused showed no repentance for their acts. The four accused, including a self-styled godman Santosh, lured the victims saying that they would multiply their money manifold using black magic. The accused would ask the victims to come to a lonely plateau in Nandos for prayers and then butcher them mercilessly.

On 29 September 2003, they murdered two persons. Then they murdered four on 30 October 2003 and then on 14 November 2003, they murdered the entire Mali family.

The four convicts—Santosh Manohar Chavhan, Amit Ashok Shinde, Yogesh Madhukar Chavhan and Mahesh Dhanaji Shindemeticulously planned the murders. They acted as if they are professional murderers. None of the accused has shown any signs of reformation.