Patna: Additional district and sessions judge (ADJ) Patna City civil court, Kamrul Hoda, on Tuesday sentenced seven persons to life in a triple murder case that took place in Patna City in 2012.

Three persons among the seven were also separately convicted under the Arms Act and sentenced to five additional years in jail. The court had held all of them guilty on April 10, 2018. It also acquitted eight persons for want of evidence. The Khajekalan police had charge-sheeted 15 persons in the case.

The three persons who were killed are Amit Yadav alias Lalu, Dheeraj Kumar and Ajit Kumar. They were killed at Hamam Per Mohalla under Khajekalan police station of Patna City on August 29, 2012.

Soni Lal alias Shashi Bhushan Yadav, a resident of Rai Jaikrishna Road, Gurhatta, had lodged an FIR in this connection with Khajekalan police station on the same day.

Additional public prosecutor Gurumit Singh told the court that around 10pm on the night of August 29, 2012, Gauri Shankar alias Baua and Mantu Rai came to Soni Lal's house and said Manoj Singh had called Soni's sons Amit Yadav and Ajit Yadav for a truce over a dispute that had seen Soni Lal's nephew Vijay Yadav being killed in 2011 and his wife fired at in 2008.

Thereafter, Soni Lal, his sons Amit alias Lalu and Ajit and their servant Dheeraj Kumar went to Hamam Per, where Manoj Singh lives. As soon as they reached there, Manoj and his men started beating Amit, Ajit and Dheeraj with lathis and later also fired at them, killing Ajit and Dheeraj on the spot. Amit died at Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) in Patna during treatment.

The court held seven persons - Dilip Yadav, Vinod Yadav, Mukesh alias Mantu, Sanjay Yadav, Sudhir Yadav (all from Bakshi Mohalla) and Manoj Singh and Dinesh Singh, both brothers from Hamam Per Mohalla - guilty and awarded them life imprisonment on Tuesday. Three persons - Sanjay Yadav, Dilip Yadav and Sudhir Yadav - among the seven were also sentenced under the Arms Act with five years of separate imprisonment.

The prosecution produced nine witnesses in the case.