Baban Rajput-Shikalgar, Mukund Shinde and Anil Shinde were liable for punishments under sections 302 (murder) 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 341 (wrongful restraint), the judge announced to a packed court room here this morning. The judgement came 377 days after the macabre killing which had sent ripples across the State adding Amruta to list of the unfortunate victims of their jilted lovers.

The 18-year-old was stabbed to death by Shikalgar and others on September 2 evening last year, behind a Ganapati pandal at the busy Shastri Chowk.

Daughter of a leading medical practitioner here, Amruta had been left in a pool of blood while Shikalgar and other accused quietly walked away in full view of hundreds of frozen bystanders.

Ironically, none of the onlookers had bothered to take the blood-soaked Amruta to hospital.

Baban Rajput was nabbed from Mhaisal village on September 4. Anil Shinde-Shikalgar was arrested on September 6 and Mukund Shinde-Shikalgar the following day.

Earlier, the accused were produced in the court amidst heavy bandobast. Armed guards were also deployed in the court room as a precautionary measure. Amruta's father Dr Ravikant Deshpande, several other prominent citizens and college students were present. Conspicuous by his absence was defence counsel J J Bardeskar. He was represented by his assistant S Patil.

The entire courtroom had plunged into silence while judge Bansod announced that he was accepting the evidences and witnesses produced by the special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam and holding the three accused guilty of murdering Amruta Deshpande.

The accused said nothing when they were asked by the court whether the capital penalty be imposed upon them or they should be sent behind bars for a life term. Special prosecutor Nikam later requested the court to give another opportunity to the accused to furnish more evidence in their defence. Declaration of final verdict be postponed till then, he requested the court.

The court agreed, asked the accused to file their say, if any, and deferred the pronouncement of the sentence till Wednesday morning. After a slow start, the investigation gathered pace after police could get the eye-witnesses and a few other important witnesses to the crime.

The depositions by Amruta's elder sister Reshma, Amruta's friend Sumedha Deshpande and a star witness Tejubhai Lalwani proved vital during the case.

Amruta's father had rejected the defence counsel's notion that it was not the case of a one-sided love affair while Sumedha Deshpande had told the court that Amruta never inclined to marry Baban Rajput.