CHANDIGARH, July 12 — A local court on Friday sentenced a 31-year-old man from Uttarakhand to life imprisonment for the brutal 2021 murder of a 97-year-old woman in Chandigarh’s Sector 8. The convict, Kailash Chandra Bhatt, was also directed to pay a fine of ₹40,000.
Bhatt had entered the home of the victim, Joginder Kaur, on August 7, 2021, with the intention to steal. During the attempted theft, he fatally stabbed her with a kitchen knife after finding her alone. Kaur, a widow, lived by herself while her children were settled abroad.
The crime came to light when Bhavna, Kaur’s caretaker, returned from her evening walk and discovered the elderly woman lying in a pool of blood. “I found her on the floor, bleeding. I called the police immediately,” Bhavna had said in her statement to investigators. Kaur was rushed to a hospital but was declared brought dead.
The case was closely followed due to the shocking nature of the crime and the age of the victim. The court’s judgment brings closure to a crime that had sent shockwaves through the city.
