Man Gets Death for Adoptive Mother’s Murder
Sheopur Court Delivers Verdict in Brutal Murder Over ₹32 Lakh FD
GG News Bureau
Sheopur, 24th July: A trial court in Sheopur has sentenced a 26-year-old man to death for the premeditated murder of his adoptive mother, Usha Devi, last year. The motive behind the heinous crime was to usurp her fixed deposit of ₹32 lakh. The court, in its order passed on Wednesday, sternly observed that “a mother is revered as equal to God in the Indian tradition and her murder is inexcusable.”
Additional Sessions Judge L.D. Solanki pronounced the death penalty for Deepak Pachauri, a resident of Railway Colony, Sheopur, after convicting him under Section 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Special Public Prosecutor Rajendra Jadhav informed that Pachauri initially filed a missing person complaint for Usha Devi on May 8, 2024. However, inconsistencies in his statements quickly raised police suspicion. During interrogation, he confessed to the murder, Superintendent of Police Virendra Jain confirmed.
Pachauri had been adopted by Usha Devi and her husband, Bhuvendra Pachauri, from a Gwalior orphanage approximately 20 years ago. After his adoptive father’s demise in 2021, Deepak withdrew ₹16.85 lakh from his father’s fixed deposits, investing ₹14 lakh in the stock market and spending the remainder. Following significant losses, he reportedly set his sights on his mother’s ₹32 lakh fixed deposit, for which he was the sole nominee.
When Usha Devi refused his demands for money, Pachauri meticulously planned her murder. On May 6, 2024, he first pushed his mother while she was climbing stairs. When this attempt failed to be fatal, he brutally struck her with an iron rod and then strangled her. To conceal his crime, he wrapped her body in a red cloth and meticulously hid it within a wall beneath a staircase toilet, using cement, sand, and bricks.
During the investigation, police exhumed the body in the presence of an executive magistrate and seized the iron rod and other incriminating materials. Forensic examination was also conducted, providing crucial evidence. The police had registered the case under the relevant IPC sections after gathering substantial evidence and subsequently filed a chargesheet against the accused.
