Kolkata Court Hands Death Penalty to Man for Brutal Murder of Elderly Professors

A Kolkata court sentenced Sanjay Sen to death for the 2015 murder of retired college professors Pran Gobinda Das and Renuka Das, labeling the crime a “rarest of rare” case due to its premeditated brutality and betrayal of trust, the Sealdah sessions court ruled last week.

Additional Sessions Judge Anirban Das highlighted the heinous nature of the July 15, 2015, murders, where Sen, a former fishmonger turned rickshaw puller, savagely attacked the elderly couple in their Chitpur apartment. The couple, who had known Sen for years and relied on him for errands, suffered repeated assaults to their faces and heads, with their facial features mutilated over a four-hour ordeal. Sen fled with gold jewelry and cash.

“The trust the couple placed in Sen, allowing him into their home, makes his betrayal more heinous,” Judge Das stated, noting the “cold-blooded preplanning” and “sadistic tendencies” evident in the prolonged, excessive violence. The court found no provocation by the victims and rejected mitigating factors like economic desperation, emphasizing that Sen’s actions showed a deliberate intent to exploit and kill.

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“This crime’s severity, public outrage, and the need to deter others justify the death penalty,” the judge declared, underscoring that lighter punishments like life imprisonment would be “completely unfair.” The ruling aims to send a “strong moral message” against betraying trust and targeting the vulnerable.

Sen’s conviction adds to Judge Das’s recent high-profile rulings, including a life sentence for Sanjay Roy in the August 2024 rape-murder case at R G Kar Medical College, currently under further CBI investigation. The death sentence awaits Calcutta High Court confirmation, as is mandatory in capital cases.

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