A 50-year-old-convict, who personally argued before the High Court of Karnataka challenging his conviction and sentence of death penalty imposed by a trial court, on Thursday got some relief as the High Court reduced the sentence to imprisonment for life without any remission and acquitted him of the charges of rape and abduction.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice John Michael Cunha delivered the verdict while modifying the December 21, 2013 verdict of a court in Mangaluru.
The High Court held that the convict, K. Mohan Kumar, a native of Bantwal taluk in Dakhina Kannada district, was guilty of committing murder for gains as he had escaped with the gold jewellery of a woman whom he had killed by making her to consume a liquid mixed with cyanide after taking her to Hassan.
However, the Bench found no evidence, including medical evidence, to establish the charge of raping the victim before killing her as medical evidence was “silent” on this aspect, and there was no evidence of torture or cruelty committed before killing her. Also, the Bench did not find evidence to hold him guilty of abducting the woman as well.
After the Bench dictated the orders of convicting him, Kumar pleaded for leniency by urging only a simple imprisonment for life.
20 murder cases
However, Additional Public Prosecutor Vijayakumar Majage urged for confirming death penalty while pointing out that the convict was involved in a series of killing as there are 20 cases of murdering gullible women by using cyanide against him.
Mr. Majage said Kumar had been convicted in four cases, of which in three he had been sentenced to death by the trial court and in one case he had been sentenced to life imprisonment.
While observing that though the sentence was required to be reduced as Kumar was acquitted from the charges of rape and abduction, the Bench said he cannot be shown leniency as pleaded by him and pointed out that circumstances warranted that he had to be imprisoned for the rest of his life without the benefit of remission of sentence available under the law.
The Bench also observed that he became a menace to society and a threat to women, particularly unmarried women, as he took to criminal activities after applying for voluntary retirement from a respectable job of a schoolteacher.
