Calcutta, March 11: Calcutta High Court today sentenced two persons of Hooghly’s Balagarh to life imprisonment, setting aside a 10-year-old judgment of a lower court which had acquitted the duo of a murder charge.

“The trial court had not paid enough attention to the case and acquitted the accused from the charges of murder even after prosecution was successful in proving their guilt,” said the division bench of Justices G.C. Gupta and K.K. Prasad of the high court.

Paritosh Saha (35), a trader of Balagarh, was abducted on May 19, 1995 while returning home from work. His body was recovered from a ditch near Balagarh More two days later.

Paritosh’s family members lodged an FIR against Shyamal Saha (32) and Prasanta Kaviraj (34), both from the same locality, charging them with the abduction and murder of the trader.

Shyamal and Prasanta were picked up on May 23, 1995, but were granted bail by a Hooghly court within seven days of arrest.

“Shyamal and Prasanta were involved in various criminal activities, including theft and robbery and Paritosh was fully aware of their criminal background. A day before his abduction, Paritosh had threatened to inform police about their crimes,” the prosecution case stated.

The trial of the duo had started before the additional sessions judge’s court at Chinsurah in Hooghly.

After examining 34 witness, the judge acquitted the duo in September 1998, while observing that the prosecution failed to produce sufficient documents to prove their guilt.

The state authorities moved an appeal before the high court in 1999, demanding penal action against the accused. Nine years after filing the appeal, the case came up for hearing. The high court held that the trial by the sessions judge was faulty and sent the accused to jail again.