Mohali, July 23 -- Five years after a 40-year-old goat trader from Nangal was beheaded over a dispute over Rs.40,000, a local court has sentenced the main accused to life imprisonment.

The court of additional sessions judge Vikrant Kumar had pronounced Jagir Singh, 67, alias Ghola, resident of Parol, guilty of the murder on July 17. The convict was also slapped with a fine of Rs.1 lakh, which is to be awarded to the victim's wife through the district legal services authority (DLSA). Two other accused in the case were acquitted due to lack of evidence.

Additional public prosecutor Hardeep Singh Romana argued that victim Sucha Singh had been murdered in an exceptionally brutal manner and urged the court to award the death penalty to the c...