Five persons hailing from Haryana were on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment by a sessions court here for kidnapping a 23-year-old man for a ransom of Rs 5 lakh. Irfan Hamid Khan (40), Ilyaz Khan (40), Wahid Jogi (24), Kasam Merv (25) and Azad Mevu (25) were found guilty of offences committed under section 364 (a) and other provisions of the IPC by principal judge V G Bisht.

The prosecution had examined 14 witnesses, including the victim and his brother, who was also the complainant, during the course of trial, additional public prosecutor Vinod More said. During his deposition, the victim's brother, Pankaj Gupta, told the court that he was working at a shoe store in Vasai as a salesman-cum cashier.