Four men charged with the murder of a 26 year old man were today sentenced to life imprisonment by the Suva High Court this afternoon.

Australian resident Zafir Tarik Ali, Taimur Ali, Tahir Ali and Chandlesh Ganesh were found guilty of the murder of James Shankaran Nair.

The court heard that on the day on the incident, the four men were travelling in a vehicle in search of suspects who committed burglary and on the way, they saw Nair and took him in the vehicle to where he was killed.

Judge Justice Priyantha Fernando said that he considers the fact that there was no evidence to show that the murder was pre-planned and that the four men did not have any previous convictions.

He made an order that each of the four men are to serve a sentence of 11 years in prison before applying for parole.

Nair's body was discovered in a pool of blood on Bau road on 4th January this year by a group of people on their way to work.

A post-mortem examination found he died of a fractured skull.

Story by: Praneeta Deo