The sentencing of Mohan Kumar, who was convicted in three murder cases, has been deferred to Saturday.
On Thursday, the fourth additional district and session court judge B.K. Naik scheduled the pronouncement of the quantum of punishment for Friday. With the judgment being “too long”, the verdict will now be announced at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Mr. Kumar, known by the infamous moniker ‘Cyanide Mohan’, is accused of killing as many as 20 women by administering cyanide after duping them into sex, and then looting jewellery from them. So far, he has been found guilty of murdering Anitha from Barimar, Leelavathi from Vamadapadavu and 30-year-old Sunanda from Peruvaje, Sullia, around 2008.
During the hearings, Mohan pleaded for leniency, citing poverty and a family to be looked after, while the prosecution pressed for a death sentence.
The modus operandi, as narrated by the prosecution, was to lure women by offering jobs, then rape them, force them or trick them to consume cyanide pills and then abscond with jewellery and money. He was arrested in October 2009 by the district police.
He has been convicted for offences under Section 302 (murder), 366 (kidnapping), 376 (rape), 328 (administering a stupefying drug), 392 (robbery), 394 (causing hurt to commit robbery), 417 (cheating) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code.
