Youth gets life term, killed friend in drunken state

Additional Sessions Judge S S Rathi sentenced Akhtar Khan after finding him guilty of battering Sunil to death in a fit of rage. "They (Akhtar and Sunil) were friends who decided to have some good time by having a liquor drinking session at the farm house. A trivial verbal duel turned ugly and rather deadly, courtesy the menace of liquor drinking amongst young populace. A precious young life was snipped out brutally. Evil of drinking habit in younger generation yet again took a toll of one young life and alcohol doomed the other for life," Rathi said.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict, stipulating that Rs 45,000 out of it would be paid to the victim`s family.

The order was passed in a case relating to a murder in 2007 at a North Delhi farm house, where Akhtar and Sunil were employed and decided to have a party along with another friend Bahadur. The three had also arranged a gas cylinder and a stove to cook fish. However, after getting drunk Sunil started bad- mouthing Akhtar`s mother.

Police said Akhtar initially asked him to stop but when Sunil refused to heed, he got infuriated, lifted a brick lying near by and began hitting him with it. Bahadur tried to calm Akhtar but he pushed him aside due to which he hit his head against a wall and became unconscious, police said.

Realising that Sunil had died due to his blows, Akhtar fled from the spot. The police was informed about the incident next morning when Bahadur regained consciousness.