BJP corporator Dattatray Sakharam Khade and his associates Satish Pandharinath Dhole and Sunil Mohan Phasge were on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment for a hate murder committed five years earlier. District and sessions court judge Shalini Phansalkar also fined them Rs 5,000 on each.

They were convicted of murdering wrestler and hardware supplier Rajesh Vasantsingh Pardeshi (25) of Dhayari.

Khade (40) is a resident of Pulachi Wadi in Shivajinagar, Dhole (40) is from Kasba Peth and Phasge (33) from Sadashiv Peth. Dattatray alias Appa Nivrutti Dudhane (45), another accused, died in jail while the trial was on.

The police had arrested the four on the basis of a complaint filed with the Deccan Gymkhana police by Pardeshi’s friend Zakir Gafoor Shaikh (25). According to the complaint, Khade and his associates killed Pardeshi because of enmity.

Assistant public prosecutor D Y Jadhav and advocate Vijay Sawant argued that three of the accused had held Pardeshi while Dudhane stabbed him.

Pardeshi was killed on the footstep of Vasant Haircutting Salon at Good Luck Chowk on Fergusson College Road on February 11, 2004. Pardeshi was passing by on a scooter when the waiting killers accosted him.

Pardeshi and his friends —complainant Zakir Shaikh, Vishwajeet Ghule, Suresh Ambudkar, Jitendra Jadhav — stopped their scooters.

According to the complaint, Khade threatened Pardeshi, then he and his associates beat him up; finally, Khade and Pasge dragged him to the saloon. Phasge had allegedly brought a razor from the salon and tried to attack those accompanying Pardeshi. Dhole was said to be carrying a knife.

When Pardeshi’s friends saw him lying in a pool of blood, they took him to a private hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

Khade, Dhole, Dudhane and Phasge are believed to be former members of the Chhota Rajan and Babu Andhekar gang.

Dhole is a history-sheeter with links to international gangs. Nearly 20 cases are registered against Khade and 18 cases each against Dhole and Phasge. These involve murder, murder attempts, kidnapping and extortion.

The BJP’s city unit chief, Girish Bapat, said, “We will stand by the court’s decision. No one is above the law.”