HC upholds life sentence to cab driver in BPO employee rape and murder case

The Karnataka High Court has upheld the life sentence to cab driver Shivakumar for kidnapping, raping and murdering BPO employee Pratibha Srikantamurthy. File photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

The Karnataka High Court, on Tuesday, confirmed the life sentence to cab driver Shivakumar for kidnapping, raping and murdering BPO employee Pratibha Srikantamurthy.

A division bench comprising Justice H. Billappa and Justice K.N. Phaneendra passed the order while upholding the conviction and sentence imposed by the trail court in it's 2010 verdict.

Pratibha (27), a staffer at HP GlobalSoft BPO at Electronics City, was kidnapped, raped and murdered on December 13, 2005. Shivakumar, the driver of one of the cars assigned to transport staff, hoodwinked her into taking his car during her night shift, and drove her to an isolated spot in the Anajanapura Layout where he committed the crime.

While Shivakumar had questioned his conviction by the trial court, the state had sought for enhancement of sentence to death penalty. The High Court did not accept both the appeals.