Jilted Lover Gets Life Term For Killing 17-Year-Old Girl, Poem Emerges As Crucial Evidence

A 19-year-old murder convict will spend the rest of his life in jail for killing his 17-year-old school junior. The court hinged on two pieces of evidence ¡ª a poem of the victim girl and a YouTube song in which a youth kills his girlfriend ¡ª to deliver this verdict.

Additional sessions judge Virender Kumar Bansal called Sarthak Kapoor a ¡°jilted lover¡± who wanted the girl back at any cost. And on watching the song, which was placed on record by the prosecution, the court said, ¡°This clearly shows and depicts his motive and also what he is going to do and ultimately he did.¡±

Police had said that Kapoor had pressed the victim Shreya Sharma¡¯s neck against the wall with her elbow as shown in the song.

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The poem was reproduced by the court in its sentencing order after forensic tests confirmed it was hers. It took note that Kapoor had been harassing Sharma much before he killed her. ¡°It was a well-planned, cold-blooded murder.

He communicated to her on Instagram his intentions to kill her and executed the same as a professional in a cold-blooded manner without using a weapon,¡± the court said. Kapoor was also slapped with a Rs 2-lakh fine.

Sharma, a Class XII student, was found dead near her house in Rohini's Sector 17 after she went missing on August 16 last year after going for coaching classes.

When all efforts to find Sharma proved unsuccessful, the parents called up the police. Upon inquiry, Kapoor confessed to his crime and took the police to the spot where Sharma¡¯s parents identified her body.

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There were instances of harassment and injury that came out during investigation. In April 2017, the first instance of harassment had come to light when Sharma¡¯s chemistry teacher had informed her parents that Kapoor would inflict injuries on her outside the coaching centre. During the trial, one of Sharma¡¯s friends had testified that Sharma had been ¡°disturbed¡± and ¡°depressed¡± due to the harassment.

The police had also relied on CCTV footage showing Sharma¡¯s final moments with Kapoor. The footage, judge Bansal ruled, wasn¡¯t tampered with and Sharma and Kapoor were seen together around 5.01pm.

¡°The postmortem report also confirms the time of death as around the time when they were last seen together... I found that firstly, a black bag is visible in the CCTV footage... The pendrive in which the CCTV footage was taken is proved... From CCTV itself it is clear that Shreya at that time was carrying one bag,¡± the judge held.

The defence counsel submitted that evidence was planted on Kapoor and nothing was recovered from his house. ¡°Police knew where the body was and they manipulated the entire story,¡± it was submitted. The court disagreed. ¡°Even otherwise it is quite natural that a child going for tuition must be carrying with her...a small bag which was being carried by Shreya also,¡± the court said.

It sentenced him to rigorous life imprisonment and specified that it would be for the remainder of his life.