Relu Ram Punia

The Poonia murders or Relu Ram Poonia murder case concerns the mass murder case of Indian politician Relu Ram Poonia and seven of his family members. The murders were committed by Ram's daughter Sonia, along with her husband Sanjeev Kumar, on the night of 23 August 2001, over a property dispute. The case was filed and Sonia, Sanjeev and various members of his family were tried. The couple was convicted of the murder charges and sentenced to death by the district court. The sentence was reduced to life imprisonment by the Punjab and Haryana High Court but the death sentence was reinstated by the Supreme Court of India. The couple remained in jail during the process when, under the section 72 (1) of the Constitution of India, a mercy petition was raised. The petition went unanswered by then President Pratibha Patil but was rejected by her successor Pranab Mukherjee. However, the couple's death sentence was reverted to life imprisonment after a petition was filed by the civil rights group People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) citing delays in the disposal of the mercy plea as grounds for clemency, which the Supreme Court accepted in January 2014.

Relu Ram Poonia (age 50), his second wife Krishna (age 41), his daughter Priyanka (age 16), his son Sunil (age 23), his daughter-in-law Shakuntala (age 20), his grandson Lokesh (age 4), and his two granddaughters Shivani (age 2) and Preeti (age 3 months) were murdered at their farmhouse in Litani on the night of 23 August 2001, while they were asleep. Sonia, Relu Ram and Krishna's daughter, murdered the family by bludgeoning them with a heavy metal rod. The bodies were found in various locations inside the two-storey mansion when a servant arrived in the morning to take Lokesh to his school bus. Shakuntala was gagged, and her hands were tied, while no other signs of resistance by other family members was noted. Sonia consumed insecticide and was found unconscious the next morning and admitted to hospital at Barwala. She had a suicide note that stated that she had killed her father because he did not love her.

The previous night, Sonia had brought Priyanka to the farmhouse from a hostel to celebrate her birthday. Firecrackers were set off at midnight and servants mentioned that they saw Sonia come down to the garage and take away an iron rod. Later at around 4.45 a.m IST, Sonia drove away in a Tata Sumo returning in a few minutes. The servants informed police that they suspected that she left to drop off her husband from the crime scene. When police investigated, traces of opium were found in the kheer (rice pudding) that the family had consumed at dinner.

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