Panvel: Three persons found guilty of murdering Adv Meenakshi Jaiswal, have been sentenced to double life imprisonment by a Panvel court.

Jaiswal, former chairperson of the Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, was brutally murdered in her residence in Vastu Vihar Celebration building in Kharghar on December 19, 2014. Her husband, Dr Santosh Jaiswal, was serving as a senior-level civil judge in Malegaon.

In the absence of eyewitness testimony, additional sessions judge SS Shinde relied on the circumstantial evidence presented by special prosecutor Adv Ujjwal Nikam to convict the trio.

Vinayak Chauhan, Maninder Singh Bajwa alias Mithu, Suraj Jaiswal were sentenced by the Panvel court. The fourth accused Surendra Kumar Batra died during the pendency of the trial.

Chauhan planned the murder with the motive of stealing gold ornaments from the Jaiswal’s house. He hailed from Jaiswal’s village and did odd jobs at the Kharghar residence of the victim. Having seen the jewellery in possession of the victim, Chauhan planned the murder and enlisted the help of his friend Bajwa and his associates Batra and Suraj Jaiswal.

The four accused sneaked into Jaiswal’s residence on December 19, 2014, and brutally murdered her. They robbed the jewellery and other valuables before fleeing. In a commendable feat, Kharghar police arrested the four within 24 hours.

A total of 20 witnesses were recorded in the case. After examining all the witnesses and evidence, the court convicted all the three accused under sections 302 with 34, 392 with 34 and 397 with 34 of the IPC.

Santosh Jaiswal, the husband of the deceased, expressed satisfaction that those guilty have finally been sentenced to life imprisonment. He gave credit to the judiciary and government prosecutor Adv Ujjwal Nikam.