The Calcutta High Court has commuted the death sentence of a self-styled healer convicted of murdering a woman and her teenage daughter to life imprisonment without remission for 40 years. The convict, Sunil Das alias “Gurudev”, was earlier sentenced to death by a sessions court in Birbhum district in August 2023.
Das had duped the victims’ family of over ₹1 lakh, claiming he could cure the 17-year-old girl of burn injuries through rituals. Between November 2019 and March 2020, he collected ₹83,000 from the family and demanded more for performing yagnas and providing “medicines.”
On May 17, 2020, Das allegedly mixed sedatives in a cashew paste he presented as prasad during a ritual at the family’s Rampurhat residence. The woman and her daughter consumed it and fell unconscious. They were later found dead. The husband, Milon Mondal, who had first come in contact with Das during a train journey while seeking treatment for his daughter, initially faced suspicion but was cleared after investigation revealed Das’s role.
Trial Court’s Conviction
The Rampurhat sessions court had convicted Das of rape, murder, and destruction of evidence, sentencing him to death for the double murder, life imprisonment for rape, and seven years’ rigorous imprisonment for tampering with evidence.
High Court’s Judgment
A division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi, while upholding his conviction for murder and disappearance of evidence, acquitted Das of rape charges.
In its judgment, the bench observed that Das, aged 45, had “habitually engaged himself in extracting money from unsuspecting members of society on the plea of curing diseases or bestowing benefits as Gurubaba.” The court noted that while the crime was heinous, it did not qualify as the rarest of rare warranting capital punishment, as the State had not proven he was beyond reform.
“The society at large requires to be protected from the appellant for a considerable length of time,” the court said, ordering that his life sentence would mean imprisonment without remission for 40 years from the date of arrest.
The conviction was supported by Mondal’s testimony and corroborated by neighbours. A crime scene reconstruction, videographed and admitted in evidence, showed Das describing how he executed the murders. He was arrested two months after the incident.
While noting his poor financial condition and family responsibilities, the court balanced the factors against the need to protect society from his fraudulent practices.
Das will now serve the remainder of his life behind bars, with no possibility of release before completing 40 years.
