Meerut, July 3 -- After seven years of trial, a local court in Moradabad district sentenced shooter Vikas Chaudhary to life imprisonment in the 2018 murder case of RTI activist Qasim Saifi from Pakbara village. The verdict was pronounced by additional district and sessions judge-3 Anchal Lavania, who also imposed a fine of Rs.20,000 on the convict. However, the court acquitted three other accused - former Pakbara village head Haroon Saifi, ex-Samajwadi Party leader Alka Dubey, and an aide named Kuldeep - citing lack of concrete evidence against them. Qasim Saifi, an RTI activist known for exposing irregularities in local development works, had gone missing on December 27, 2018, after leaving home for the tehsil office. His family lodged a missing person's complaint on December 29. The case was later reclassified as an abduction on January 3, 2019. After several days of investigation, police arrested shooter Vikas Chaudhary on January 9 from Durmanjpur village in Shamli district. Acting on the accused's confession, police recovered Qasim's decomposed body from a sugarcane field near his village. Further investigation led to the arrest of Alka Dubey and Kuldeep, while former village head Haroon Saifi surrendered in court after returning from Saudi Arabia. Police alleged that Haroon Saifi had orchestrated Qasim's murder through Alka Dubey, who then hired Vikas Chaudhary as the shooter. Qasim had reportedly used RTI applications to seek information on development projects in Pakbara, which had allegedly created friction between him and the local leadership. Following the arrests, all four accused were granted bail. However, the police later filed a chargesheet against them. The prosecution led by additional district government counsel Ranjeet Rathore argued for the strictest punishment. On Monday, the court convicted Vikas Chaudhary based on the available evidence and sentenced him to life imprisonment along with a Rs.20,000 fine. The remaining three accused were acquitted due to insufficient evidence....