The sixth Additional District and Sessions Judge D.T. Puttarangaswamy here on Saturday sentenced to life “Cyanide” Mohan Kumar on finding him guilty of murdering a 28-year-old woman by administering cyanide to her.
As per the charge-sheet, Mohan Kumar introduced himself as Shashidhar Poojary to the 28-year-old woman, a resident of Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada. He promised to marry her and took the woman to a lodge in Hassan on September 23, 2009.
The next day, he asked her to remove her jewellery in the room and sent her to a public toilet at the bus stand nearby to consume pregnancy prevention pill. The woman went to the toilet and consumed the pill given by Mohan Kumar. However, the pill contained cyanide.
While the woman died in the bus stand, Mohan Kumar vacated the room and left the place with her jewellery. He sold the jewellery to some jewellers in Mangaluru, the charge-sheet said.
Prosecutor Judith O.M. Crasta examined 38 witnesses, including the lodge owner, the person who had sold cyanide to Mohan Kumar and the jewellers who purchased the jewellery.
Concurrent sentences
The judge sentenced Mohan Kumar to death and imposed a fine of ₹ 3,000 on him for an offence under Section 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code (IPC). He was sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment and fined ₹ 3,000 for an offence under Section 376 (rape) of IPC, six years imprisonment and ₹ 3,000 fine for an offence under Section 366 (kidnapping) of IPC, seven years imprisonment and ₹ 3,000 fine for an offence under Section 328 (administering stupefying drugs) of IPC, five years imprisonment and ₹ 3,000 fine for an offence under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of IPC, five years imprisonment and ₹ 3,000 fine for an offence under Section 392 (robbery) of IPC and five months imprisonment for an offence under Section 417 (cheating) of IPC. All these sentences will run concurrently, the judge said.
20 cases of murder
Mohan Kumar, a former teacher, has been charge-sheeted by police in 20 cases of murder of women by using cyanide. Including the murder of the 28-year-old woman, he has been convicted in five cases.
The District Sessions Court has already sentenced him to death for the murder of a woman from Sullia on February 12, 2008, which was upheld by the High Court of Karnataka on November 15, 2017.
The High Court, however, overturned the death sentence awarded by the District Sessions Court and awarded life sentence to Mohan Kumar for the murder of two more women.
While acquitting Mohan Kumar in the murder of a 32-year-old woman from Bantwal, the High Court had sentenced him to five years imprisonment on finding him guilty of robbing her of her jewellery.
Also, the District Sessions Court had sentenced him to life for the murder of a woman from Puttur.
