New Delhi, Dec. 14 -- A Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India YV Chandrachud, and including justices Chinnappa Reddy and Bahrul Islam, on December 8, 1980, dismissed an appeal by Jasbir Singh alias Billa (25), and Kuljit Singh alias Ranga (23), against their death sentence and conviction for the abduction and murder of the teenaged Chopra children.

It was in August 1978 that Geeta and Sanjay, the children of Captain MM Chopra, who was serving at the naval headquarters in Delhi, hitched a ride with the killers, Billa and Ranga, near Dhaula Kuan in a car stolen earlier by the criminal duo. Instead of being dropped at the All India Radio, where Geeta had an appointment, the teenagers were kidnapped.

Sanjay, 15, who grappled wit...