Sonia-Biggest Culprit in Indian History

[Sir john]

June 1, 2004, Daughter, son-in-law get death for killing ex-MLA Punia

Former legislator Relu Ram PuniaÃÔ daughter, Sonia, and her husband, Sanjiv Kumar, were today sentenced to death for killing him and seven other members of his family. The court had convicted them on May 27. The judgement was pronounced by the District and Sessions Judge, Mr Arvind Kumar Goyal, this afternoon. The police had made tight security arrangements at the court complex as hundreds of residents of Mr PuniaÃÔ village, Parbhuwala, and other adjoining villages had gathered there. The court had acquitted SoniaÃÔ father-in-law, Anup Singh, mother-in-law, Rajbiri Devi, and brother-in-law, Subodh Kumar, of the charges on May 27. Five other relatives of Sanjiv Kumar were acquitted of the charges last year. According to the prosecution, Sonia and her husband had clubbed Relu Ram Punia (50), his wife, Krishna Devi (41), daughter, Priyanka (14), son, Sunil Kumar (23), daughter-in-law, Shakuntala Devi (20), grandson, Lokesh (4), and his two granddaughters, Shivani (2) and two-month-old Preeti, to death at their farmhouse at Litani village on the night of August 23, 2001, while they were asleep. The deaths came to notice around 8 am the next day when a school van came to pick up Lokesh. The manager of the farmhouse sent a servant upstairs to bring Lokesh. The servant found them dead. Sonia was found gasping in a bedroom. She had consumed some insecticide after killing members of the family. Later, the manager and servants told the police that Sonia had brought her sister, Priyanka, from her hostel to celebrate her birthday. The celebrations went on till midnight when servants heard the bursting of crackers. Thereafter, Sonia came to the garage and took away an iron rod from there. None of them heard any cries or commotion during the night. The bodies of family members were found lying in different rooms on the first and second floors of the farmhouse. All of them had been clubbed to death. There were no signs of resistance. There was a property dispute between Sonia and her brother, Sunil Kumar (PuniaÃÔ son from his first wife). While Sonia wanted her father to give her 46 acres of land around the farmhouse, Sunil had objected to it saying he was cultivating it. The family also had properties in various nearby villages, Delhi, Gurgaon and Faridabad. Relu Ram Punia, a multi-millionaire, was elected legislator from the Barwala assembly segment as an Independent candidate in 1996. TNS adds from Chandigarh: Mr Relu Ram Punia was a one-election wonder. He won from the Barwala Assembly constituency in 1996 as an Independent candidate. He entered politics after making tonnes of money in the controversial business of mobil oil which, many suspected, used to be spurious. His product was popularly known as Ŭala Tel? But this did not weigh on the minds of the Barwala electors who voted Mr Punia in a big way. One factor responsible for his victory was the sympathy generated for him when he was denied the Lok Dal ticket. It was talk of the area that Mr Punia had financed the Lok Dal in a big way before the 1996 elections. The party had been out of power for five years. It was badly in need of resources. His nomination by the Lok Dal from Barwala was taken for granted. The money power at his command also contributed significantly in his victory. His campaign was centered on a slogan which became a catch word in the area. His supporters used to chant while campaigning that ųelu Ram Ki rail chalegi; bin paani, bin tel chalegi? After his election, he extended support to the Bansi Lal Government. His family life was not smooth. His relations with his second wife, Krishna, were not cordial. After his death, the people of the area constituted the Relu Ram Punia Sangharsh Samiti to seek justice for the dead.

May 31 2009 Let me die, says woman on Death Row for killing 8, Govt tells President show no mercy

Almost five years after she and her husband were convicted for murdering eight people, including her father, former independent MLA in Haryana Relu Ram Punia, and three children, Sonia wants to be hanged at the earliest. And she may get her wish too. For, following her letter seeking rejection of her mercy petition, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has written to President Pratibha Patil recommending that the mercy petitions of the husband and wife be rejected and the death sentence carried out. Sonia and her husband Sanjeev are in Central Jail, Ambala. They have a seven-year-old child. On the night of August 23, 2001, Sonia and Sanjeev, according to case records, drugged and then clubbed to death former Barwala (Hisar) MLA Punia, his wife, Krishna; daughter Pammi; son Sunil; daughter-in-law Shakuntala and grandchildren Lokesh, Preeti and Shivani at PuniaÃÔ farmhouse in Hisar. The apparent motive: inheritance. In her letter dated February 17, 2009 addressed to the President, Sonia requested that her mercy petition be rejected. The letter, written in English, was sent from her jail cell. Ūt is getting impossible to live like an insect in solitary confinement. My life is becoming horrible and giving me more and more pain by every second passing, her letter says. Ū donÃÕ have any means to live and want to die once rather than dying with each passing minute. Her plea was forwarded to the Union Home Ministry for its comments. In his recommendation to the President, Chidambaram said that even though Sonia is a woman, considering the nature of her crime, she doesnÃÕ deserve sympathy, there are no extenuating factors or mitigating grounds for the President to exercise her discretion for grant of clemency. And, therefore, the mercy petition be rejected paving the way for Sonia and her husband to be hanged. The murders had stunned Hisar with villagers setting up a committee to bring the killers to justice. That PuniaÃÔ was a rags-to-riches story he started in a private truck company and built assets worth crores only added to the drama. On May 31, 2004, the Hisar District and Sessions Judge awarded death penalty to the duo. But on April 12, 2005, the Punjab and Haryana HC, while upholding the conviction, commuted the death sentence to life for both which was later upturned by the Supreme Court on February 15, 2007. In its order, the SC reversed the HC decision and restored the death sentence to both husband and wife. Their mercy petitions were also rejected by the Haryana Governor in October 2007, who referred the matter to the President under Article 72 of Constitution where it is pending. ŵhe President will decide at the appropriate time, said a Rashtrapati Bhavan source when asked if the President would reject the mercy petition after the communication from the Centre.

When a daughter wipes out her family for property

A Haryana village erupted with joy as news came in of the Supreme Court sentencing to death a couple who had mercilessly killed eight members of their immediate family in August 2001 for property worth billions of rupees. The Supreme Court Thursday upheld the death penalty given to Sonia and her husband Sanjeev Kumar who murdered her father Relu Ram Punia, a former Hissar legislator and billionaire, mother Krishna, stepbrother Sunil and his wife Shakuntala, their three small children aged four, two, and two-months-old, and Sonia's younger sister Priyanka, 16. Relu Ram's brothers, family and villagers distributed sweets in Hissar and in their village Prabhuwala as the verdict came in. "I am happy with the judgment. We had full faith in the judiciary," Relu Ram's brother Ram Singh said after the verdict. The order of the apex court upholds the earlier order of the district and sessions court at Hissar that the couple - Sonia and her husband Sanjeev Kumar - was guilty of the heinous crime and deserved death penalty. The victims were murdered at their sprawling farmhouse, 30 km from Hissar city, after late night festivities to celebrate Priyanka's birthday on Aug 23, 2001. Sonia, a taekwondo martial arts black-belt holder and only 20-years at the time of the crime, later told police investigators that she and her husband feared that they would be dispossessed of the family's huge property in Haryana and hence committed the crime. Sonia and Priyanka were Relu Ram's daughters from his second marriage to Krishna. Sonia feared that Relu Ram would give the entire property to her stepbrother Sunil and his wife. Sunil was Relu Ram's son from his first marriage. At stake were a sprawling 25-acre farmhouse on Hissar's Litani Road, nearly 170 acres of land elsewhere in Haryana, a 500-square yard house in Faridabad adjoining Delhi, nearly two-dozen shops at various places, a warehouse and a factory - all owned by Relu Ram. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had in April 2005 commuted the death sentence to the couple, awarded by the sessions court, to life imprisonment. The Supreme Court Thursday reversed the high court order and ordered that they be given death penalty. Relu Ram's was a rag to riches story. Having started his livelihood as a truck cleaner, he made his money after himself getting into the transport and used (black) oil business. Relu Ram, known in and around Hissar for his philanthropy, was elected as an independent legislator from the Barwala seat in Haryana in 1996. He was particularly popular in the area for helping people in need - especially helping girls getting married off. He was also known in the family for splurging on all his children.

[Sir john]

what today she had done in ambala jail