Mohali, May 1 -- Over six years after two men brutally murdered a 60-year-old man by slitting his throat to usurp Rs.3 lakh from him, a local court on Wednesday sentenced them to life in prison. The court of additional district and sessions judge found the duo, Ishtekar Khan, alias Sonu, and Shubham Grover, both residents of Khuda Alisher village in Chandigarh, guilty under Sections 302 (murder), 460 (house trespass where death or grievous hurt was caused), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). They were also fined Rs.15,000 fine each. As per case files, the murder had taken place in January 2019. Sumit Mor, then station house officer (SHO) of the Nayagaon police station, had received information that Raj Kumar, a 60-year-old resident of Shivalik Vihar, Phase 2, was found dead with his throat slit. Police reached the spot and recorded the statement of the victim's son, Inderjeet Kumar, a software engineer with a private company. Initially, an FIR was lodged against unknown assailants under relevant sections of IPC. Eventually on January 25, 2019, police arrested Ishtekar Khan and Shubham Grover, who later confessed to the crime. The two men revealed that they knew Raj Kumar and were aware that he had recently received Rs.3 lakh as part of a claim settlement. Shubham had called Raj Kumar to confirm his location before the murder. That night, the two entered his home and slit his throat with a knife. After the murder, they disposed of their blood-stained clothes and shoes in an empty plot nearby. When Raj Kumar's son returned home around 9.30 pm, he found his father lying in a pool of blood and immediately informed the police control room. Before pronouncement of the sentence, both convicts pleaded for leniency, stating that they were the sole breadwinners of their families with elderly parents, who were dependent on them. However, the court rejected their plea, noting that the brutal murder of an innocent man for financial gain did not warrant leniency. Awarding life sentence to the convicts and imposing a Rs.15,000 fine, the court ordered that if the fine was not paid, their sentence will be extended by one year. Both convicts are currently lodged in Ferozepur jail....