As a significant major development in the Ajmer sex scandal case, a POCSO court has sentenced six additional men to life imprisonment. These individuals were found guilty of participating in the rape and blackmail of over 100 girls. Alongside the life sentences, the court has also ordered each accused to pay a fine of ₹5 lakh.

Prosecution counsel Virendra Singh reported that Nafees Chishti, Naseem alias Tarzan, Salim Chishti, Iqbal Bhati, Sohail Gani, and Sayed Zameer Hussain have been convicted for their roles in the Ajmer sex scandal, which was first exposed in 1992.

The case involved a gang that targeted college and school-going girls aged between 11 and 20 years. Members of the gang befriended the victims, took photographs of them in compromising situations, and subsequently raped them. In total, there were 18 accused individuals in the case.

Farooq Chishti’s trial proceeded separately due to his diagnosis of schizophrenia, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2007. Additionally, one of the accused committed suicide. The remaining eight accused were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1998. A second charge sheet was later filed against Nafees Chishti, Salim Chishti, Iqbal Bhati, Sohail Gani, Sayed Zameer Hussain and Almas, who is still at large.

On Tuesday, the remaining five accused, including Nafees Chishti, Salim Chishti, Iqbal Bhati, Sohail Gani, Sayed Zameer Hussain, and Naseem alias Tarzan—who were named in the first charge sheet and had been absconding—were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The other accused, who had been sentenced earlier, have either completed their terms or been acquitted by the courts. The lawyer explained that a separate trial was conducted for the six remaining accused because their investigation was still pending at the time of the initial charge sheet. The victims, who attended a prominent private school in Ajmer, were lured to a farmhouse where they were subsequently raped.

Image source: OpIndia