On Monday, the Sessions Court handed down a life sentence to Mumbai-based dentist Dr Umesh Babole who in December 2016 had murdered his wife Tanuja in front of their 4-year-old child. The court verdict followed a seven-year-long trial, wherein the statement of the minor child was crucial evidence against his father.

Through the course of the trial, Public Prosecutor R V Keni examined 10 witnesses, asserting that the murder had been planned. “The court placed significant weight on the statement of the accused’s minor son, who bravely testified that his father went to the kitchen, retrieved a knife, and used it to fatally stab his mother,” Keni told mid-day. Following the compelling arguments presented by Keni, Additional Sessions Judge P P Bankar pronounced the imprisonment sentence.