They have also said that the verdict of the district court runs counter to precedents set in similar cases in the past.
A bench of Judge Kul Prasad Sharma had decided on a jail term of only three years and six months for Gupta and his accomplices Aakash Lama and Jeet Bahadur Gole.Others accused in the case, Amir Acharya, Kishore Pandey and Bishnu Laxam aka Aarju Subba, were acquitted of charges.
"The full text of the verdict is yet to come out. However, the verdict amazes every law practitioners as to how a mastermind involved in abduction and his accomplices received jail term provisioned for only attempted abduction," said an advocate.
The Office of the District Attorney had sought the maximum jail term for Gupta as provisioned by law: 15 years for his involvement in abduction and an additional two years for being a member of a kidnap gang. Though there is a legal provision for slapping seven to 15 years for an abduction charge, Sharma's bench had sentenced Gupta and accomplices to only half the minimum jail terms.
"This verdict has left the legal fraternity flabbergasted since it also goes against the precedents," said another lawyer.
Kathmandu District Court on January 24, 2009 had awarded a jail term of 22 years to Krishnachhara Rai and Siddhartha Lama, the mastermind of the gang that abducted Megha Devkota, daughter of neurosurgeon Dr Upendra Devkota. Rai and Lama's accomplice Hem Bahadur Magar received a jail term of 15 years while 13 years in jail was slapped on Raju Lama.
Likewise, the district court had handed down a 12-year jail term to Udaya Setthi and accomplices Pralhad Mahat, Bikash Karki, Bishnu Bahadur GC and Mandeep Gurung in 2009 on the charge of abducting businessmen Niraj Kakshapati and Baburaja Rawal.
The Office of the Public Prosecutor has been waiting for the full text of the verdict to decide whether to file an appeal or not.
Sanghai, the owner of Arya Pharmaceuticals, was abducted on December 22, 2011 from the Ganesh temple at Kamaladi, Kathmandu and released in the capital on January 11, 2012, after his family paid the abductors Rs 8.5 million.
Although evidence showed that the abductors took the ransom amount, the court has sought a fine of only Rs 100,000 each from Gupta and the two others.
The case was filed at Kathmandu District Court in February 2012. As per the verdict, Gupta will be out of jail after two months.
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