New Delhi: A Delhi court has awarded life term to a man for killing and then burning the remains of his live-in partner in 2012. Additional Sessions judge Sanjeev Aggarwal jailed north Delhi resident Umakant while relying on circumstantial evidence and sent his accomplice Sumit to rigorous jail term for a period of four years.

"The circumstances cumulatively establish and support the hypothesis, that it was Accused 1 (Umakant) but none else who had committed murder of deceased Rachna by strangulating her and thereafter burning her dead body consequent to her death, in which he was actively aided, abetted and helped by Accused 2 (Sumit)," the judge said.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on Umakant.

According to the prosecution, Umakant had rented out an apartment in Rohini where he was living with the woman as a married couple.

On June 19, 2012, a neighbour saw the convicts dragging a bag from the apartment, from which blood was oozing out, and putting it into a car, the prosecution said.

It said the neighbours alerted the police and Umakant and his accomplice were apprehended later that night.

The prosecution claimed that he had strangulated her as she used to pressurise him to divorce his wife and marry her.

Umakant had claimed innocence and said he was falsely implicated in the case while his accomplice Sumit denied having even met the convict or the victim.

However, both the convicts failed to adduce any evidence to their claim, the court noted.

"The defence version which is supported by no tangible or intangible evidence, does not in any way dilutes or scales down the probative force of the overwhelming nature of prosecution evidence which is almost touching the point of certainty," the court said while convicting them. (PTI)