MEERUT, May 4 -- A decade after a village youth was gunned down near his home, a local court in Budaun sentenced three men to life imprisonment on Saturday and imposed a fine of Rs.1 lakh on each. The verdict was delivered by Additional Sessions Judge Farah Matloob, bringing closure to a case that had remained under trial since 2015.

The incident occurred on May 27, 2014, in Shekhupura village under the Bisauli police station limits. Shivraj alias Sookhe was shot dead near his house by four men from the same village, reportedly over a long-standing land feud. A day later, Shivraj's elder brother, Kunwarpal, lodged an FIR naming Avnesh, Dharmendra, Thakur, and Rafat Singh as the accused, additional district government counsel Sanjeev Gupt...