Ghaziabad: A man and his parents were sentenced to life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 36,000 each after an additional sessions court in Ghaziabad found them guilty of murder and dowry harassment.The convicts were also sentenced to five years’ rigorous imprisonment for concealment of evidence as they had severed the victim’s head and chopped off both her palms to avoid identification before throwing her body into Ganga canal in 2022.Additional sessions judge Jeetendra Mishra said the case did not qualify as a rarest of rare case without a separate assessment of the nature of the crime and the specific role of each convict.“After considering all the facts and circumstances of the case, including the nature of the crime committed, the circumstances of the crime, the social impact of the crime, and the impact on the victim, the court finds it justified to sentence the convicts for a life term in prison with a fine of Rs 25,000 each under IPC section 302 (murder) read with section 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention),” the judge said.The three were fined Rs 10,000 each under IPC section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender) and Rs 1,000 each under Dowry Prohibition Act section 4. All the sentences are to run concurrently and be adjusted against time already spent in jail — while Akash has been in custody for three years, his parents were out on bail after spending one year each.Siddhartha Vihar residents Akash Tyagi, his father Suresh and mother Usha were arrested for the murder of Riya Jain on Jan 26, 2022, after the woman’s uncle Vipin Kumar submitted a missing complaint. The complainant claimed that the 22-year-old had not been responding to phone calls for two days and her in-laws had been stonewalling questions about her whereabouts. Riya’s family also blamed the Tyagis for demanding Rs 1 lakh in dowry since her marriage in March 2021.Police said Akash initially told cops that Riya and his mother Usha were kidnapped from outside an ultrasound clinic, Arjun Diagnostic Centre, by four men. He said the men had thrown Usha off the vehicle after a few kilometres but sped off with his wife. Akash had also told the cops that Riya was taken to the clinic as she had complained of a stomach ache but the centre was closed on that day. Suresh, however, had told cops that the family had taken Riya to a sugarcane field in Shahzadpur jungle from the clinic and decapitated her. They also chopped off her palms and threw the severed body parts in Ganga canal in Muradnagar.While cops did not find the severed limbs, they found the beheaded body in the jungle, recovered a dagger used in the crime and blood-stained clothes belonging to Usha and eventually filed a charge sheet against the three under IPC sections 498-A (husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty), 304-B (dowry death), 201 and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) on April 26, 2022. The additional sessions court framed charges against the trio after adding alternative IPC sections 302 read with 34 on Dec 23, 2025.Additional DGC (crime) Kiran Pal Singh told the court Suresh had facilitated the recovery of her body and the dagger used to sever her head and palms. “The accused admitted that he severed the deceased’s head and hands to conceal her identity. The deceased’s husband, Akash, was also fully involved in the incident. He had booked a taxi to take the victim to the ultrasound centre, even though he knew it was closed,” he said.Singh added that DNA tests established that the body with its head and hands severed was that of Riya Jain. He also said there was no intention to falsely implicate the accused, as a missing complaint was filed initially.The defence argued that there was no independent witness and that Akash had informed police about his wife’s kidnapping, yet the family members were framed.After hearing the arguments and testimony, the court said Akash’s account of abduction by unknown persons was significantly inconsistent with other established evidence, which undermined its credibility. The court cited the woman going to the ultrasound centre with the accused and going missing, the kidnapping story, and the recovery of the body and weapon on Suresh’s indication. It also cited human blood on the weapon, the recovery of her phone, and a jacket with biological material recovered, whose DNA profile matched the woman’s. “All these circumstances together form a complete chain which establishes beyond doubt the involvement of each of the accused in the crime,” the court said. It also noted that the demand for Rs 1 lakh soon after marriage was corroborated by witnesses and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
