22 Death Sentences In 4 Months: Gyanvapi Survey Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar’s String Of Capital Punishments

Additional District and Sessions Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar has sentenced 22 convicts to death in 10 cases over a period of four months at a fast-track court in Muzaffarnagar, with the cases involving murders committed between 1999 and 2019.

Diwakar, who is currently posted as an additional district and sessions judge in Muzaffarnagar, has been delivering the judgments since April 2026. Several of the cases were described by the court as falling within the “rarest of rare” category, warranting the maximum punishment.

The judge had earlier come into the spotlight in 2022 when, while posted in Varanasi, he passed an order for a videography survey of the Gyanvapi complex. He has been serving in Muzaffarnagar since November 2025.

What were the cases?

One of the recent death sentences was awarded on August 13, when four men, Ramvir, Rajiv, Rahul and Harender Kumar, were sentenced to death for the 2014 murder of Pawan Kumar in Shamli district.

According to the prosecution case, the four accused entered Pawan Kumar's house on July 14, 2014, and opened fire following an old dispute. Pawan Kumar was killed, while his brother Ashok Kumar suffered bullet injuries. Court also imposed a fine of Rs 1.70 lakh on the four convicts.

A day earlier, on August 12, the court sentenced Shahnawaz to death for kidnapping and murdering Saleem, a wood trader, for ransom in a case dating back to 1999.

Saleem had allegedly been kidnapped after a ransom demand of Rs 5 lakh. He was subsequently killed by having his throat slit in a forest area in Chapar. The court treated the crime as falling within the rarest of rare category.

On July 17, four men were sentenced to death for the 2011 murder of farmer Raj Singh during an attempted robbery in Shamli. Raj Singh and his friend Bijendra were intercepted while travelling on a motorcycle. Raj Singh was shot after resisting the robbery, while Bijendra was tied up and thrown into a sugarcane field.

On July 6, former village head Pramod and his associate Sahdev were sentenced to death for the 2010 murder of 60-year-old Rajbir Singh. The prosecution case was that Rajbir was killed over rivalry connected with panchayat elections. The court found the case to be among the rarest of rare.

On July 2, the court sentenced Deepak to death for murdering home guard Ratiram, who was on duty in Muzaffarnagar.

The incident occurred on June 4, 2020, when Ratiram intervened after Deepak allegedly assaulted his mother. Deepak subsequently stabbed the home guard, causing his death. The court held that the circumstances warranted the maximum punishment.

On June 20, two convicts, Ramkaran and Gilu, were handed the death penalty for their involvement in the murder of Rajendra Saini.

On May 30, 50-year-old Rahis was sentenced to death for the 2011 murder of Rajesh Devi and her six-year-old son Himanshu. The prosecution alleged that Rahis took the woman and child to a sugarcane field and killed them by repeatedly striking them with bricks.

Earlier, on April 28, a woman and her three sons were sentenced to death in a 2019 murder case. On April 6, three accused were sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of lawyer Mohammad Sameer in another 2019 case. Sameer was allegedly abducted over a monetary dispute involving Rs 45 lakh before his body was disposed of in a forest area.

The death sentences awarded by the trial court are not immediately executable. Under the law, a death sentence passed by a sessions court is required to be confirmed by the concerned high court before it can be carried out.

Diwakar, a BCom and LLM graduate, began his judicial career as an additional civil judge in Azamgarh in 2009. He was later posted in Sultanpur, Budaun, Varanasi, Bareilly, and Chitrakoot before taking charge as an additional district and sessions judge in Muzaffarnagar in November 2025.