Patna, May 4: A former student of a Bangalore-based college was awarded life term today by the lower court for murdering his elder brother’s wife after a failed rape attempt.

Jai Prakash, a resident of PC Colony under Kankerbagh police station in Patna, was arrested on murder allegation in February 3, 1996. He has already spent 15 years in jail.

Additional district and sessions judge, Patna, Ajit Kumar Sinha found Jai Prakash guilty under Section 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code and awarded him life imprisonment. Jai Prakash will continue to be behind the bars for the rest of his life.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5000 on Jai prakash or else he will have to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months.

As per the prosecution’sstory, Jai Prakash lived with his elder brother, Om Prakash, an assistant in the department of special home, at their Kankerbagh residence.

On February 2, 1996, when Om Prakash left for his office, Jai Prakash entered his bedroom and tried to rape his sister-in-law Sunita Devi. The woman (deceased) resisted the attempt and was killed by the convict.

The court framed the murder charge against him on April 30, 1998, and the statement of the accused was recorded on February 25, 2011.

All together eight prosecution witnesses were examined during the trial.

Deceased husband Om Prakash, in his statement before the court, claimed that his younger brother Jai Prakash killed his wife.

Father of the convict, Baijanth Prasad, a retired employee of sales tax department, also deposed in court against Jai Prakash.

“He (accused) used to write vulgar letters to my wife,” he told the court. Om Prakash said his brother had always harboured ill intentions and wanted to rape his wife.

The defence counsel, however, told the court that Om Prakash was Jai Prakash’s stepbrother and also tried to prove that the deceased was not loyal to her husband.

“She (deceased) was killed by Shiv Prakash (another brother of Om Praksh).,” the defence counsel claimed.

The defence maintained that Jai Prakash had been falsely implicated in the murder case. It submitted a plea claiming the case was a ploy by Jai Prakash’s stepbrothers — Shiv Prakash and Om Prakash — to oust the former from the ancestral property.

While the judgment was pronounced, the defence counsel pleaded for leniency to be exercised in case of Jai Prakash as he had already spent 15 years in jail.

The counsel said the convict’s career had been spoiled due to the break in studies. Jai Prakash was in engineering fourth year when he was arrested.

However, the court ordered stringent action against the culprit as the crime committed by his was of a heinous nature.