A local court sentenced Ilyas to life in prison for murdering his wife and two minor children. The murders took place six years ago, and the court acquitted his mother and two other women due to insufficient evidence. Ilyas is also fined Rs 27,000.

A local court sentenced a man to life in prison on Saturday after convicting him for murdering his wife and two minor children in a six-year-old case.

Assistant district government advocate (criminal) Abhinav Chaturvedi said additional sessions judge Namrata Agarwal held one Ilyas guilty of murder and sentenced him to life in prison.

She also fined him Rs 27,000.

Ilyas' mother Zaitoon Nisha and two other women were acquitted due to lack of evidence, with the court saying the prosecution failed to prove the charges against them.

Chaturvedi said 26-year-old Shahnaz Begum of Veerpur Bhatpurwa in the Chhapia area of Uttar Pradesh's Gonda district and her two children -- four-year-old Farid and three-year-old Sabreen -- were murdered and their bodies thrown in a pond.

Police had registered a murder case against Ilyas (30), mother-in-law and two other women of the same village.

(Disclaimer: With inputs from agencies.)