The four accused in the Keenan - Reuben murder – Jitendra Rana, Sunil Bodh, Satish Dulhaj and Dipak Tival – have been convicted and awarded life imprisonment by a Mumbai court.

Keenan’s father Valerian Santos, said: “I’m happy with life imprisonment to guilty. They should live every moment thinking about Keenan-Reuben.”

“I would not ask for capital punishment, because I know it’s not a rarest of rare case. But I will ask for life imprisonment because I want the accused to know what Keenan and Reuben’s families are going through,” he had said.

Keenan, then 24, and Reuben, 29, were killed on the night of October 20, 2011, when they stood up to a man who was sexually harassing their women friends, including Keenan’s girlfriend Priyanka Fenandes.

During trial, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam had examined 25 witnesses including five eyewitnesses, which included two female friends of the deceased. All the accused have been in jail since their arrest.

"There is direct evidence to show that the accused were eve teasing and molesting girls when the victims tried to stop it. This is a pre-meditated murder as the accused had even threatened them with their life and had come back with weapons to attack them," Nikam said.

Special judge Vrushali Joshi on Thurday pronounced the verdict and the sentence in the presence of the accused and the family members of the victims, Keenan and Reuben, who were 24 and 29 years old, respectively, when they were murdered.

Four accused – Jitendra Rana, Sunil Bodh, Satish Dulhaj and Dipak Tival – were arrested the next day and a fast-track court had in October framed charges against them for murder, conspiracy and molestation.

By Premji