‘Cyanide’ Mohan, who was charged with the murder of 20 women in 2009, was sentenced to life on being found guilty of murdering a 25-year-old woman from Kasaragod. This was the last of the 20 cases of murder registered against him and marks the end of trial of all the cases.
According to the chargesheet, Mohan, a teacher by profession, befriended Pushpa who worked as a cook in a women’s hostel. He promised to marry her and visited her house thrice. Pushpa left her house on July 8, 2009, under the pretext of visiting a temple in Sullia and never returned. When her family members called her, Mohan told them that she was with him in a hotel in Uppparpet police station limits of Bengaluru. On July 15, 2009, he took Pushpa to Majestic bus terminus where he asked her to consume ‘cyanide’ by making her believe it as contraceptive pill. The victim was found dead in the public washroom. Mohan returned to the hotel and left with the victim’s ornaments.
Following his arrest on October 21, 2009, in connection with similar murders, the family of Pushpa filed a complaint against Mohan. Prime among witnesses in the 20 cases included a woman who survived following consumption of the pill and also an astrologer before whom Mohan confided about the murders.
His modus operandi was to befriend unmarried women, all of them from Dakshina Kannada and Kasaragod in Kerala, with different names by promising jobs and marriage. He took women to different places and sexually assaulted them in the lodges near a bus stand. He made them consume cyanide in the washrooms of the bus stand nearby. The sole surviving woman exposed his modus operandi. The then Assistant Superintendent of Police Chandragupta and Sub-Inspector Nanjunde Gowda conducted the initial investigation before it was taken over by the CID.
On Wednesday, the 6th Additional District and Sessions judge Sayeedunnisa sentenced Mohan to life and imposed a fine of ₹25,000 for the offence of murder. He was also sentenced and imposed fine under Sections 366, 376, 328, 392, 394, 417, and 201 of IPC. All the sentences will run concurrently. So far, Mohan has been sentenced to death in five cases of which one has been confirmed and in two cases it was turned to life imprisonment by the Karnataka High Court. In 10 cases, he was sentenced to life and he has filed an appeal. He was acquitted in five cases. The judge asked District Legal Service Authority, Mangaluru, to take steps to award compensation to Pushpa’s mother as per the Karnataka Victim Compensation Scheme.