Akansh Sen murder: Prosecution concludes final arguments in court

The prosecution on Wednesday concluded its final arguments in a local court in the 2017 Akansh Sen murder case.

Now, the defence will make final arguments at the next hearing on August 19. The defence’s contention is that was an accident, and not a murder.

The prosecution contended in court that it was accused Harmehtab Singh Rarewala, who had instigated another accused, Balraj Singh Randhawa, to crush Sen under the latter’s BMW car.

Giving reference of medical reports, the prosecution mentioned that tyre marks were found on the abdomen of Sen, a nephew of former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh’s wife.

The prosecution started its final arguments from the old enmity between Rarewala and Gagandeep Shergill, alias Shera, that started with a scuffle in Manali. It was followed by another scuffle at Landran in Rarewala’s farm house.

Later, when Rarewala and other witnesses came to one Deep Sidhu’s house in Sector 9 post a party, there Sen (a close friend of Shera) came in search of Shera. While they were outside the house, Sen confronted Rarewala over his behaviour with Shera .

This infuriated Rarewala, and as per prosecution, he said, “Tu Shere da bodyguard lageyaa hai, pehlan tainu hi theek karde haan (Are you Shera’s bodyguard? Let’s take care of you first).” He then sat in Randhawa’s BMW car and instigated him to crush Sen until he died.

Randhawa continues to remain at large, and has already been declared a proclaimed offender by court. Chandigarh Police have announced a cash reward of ₹1 lakh to anyone providing information leading to his arrest.

Rarewala was arrested on February 16, 2017. He is the grandson of the erstwhile PEPSU chief minister, Gian Singh Rarewala, and Randhawa is the son of a former sarpanch of Fatehgarh Sahib.