BENGALURU: In 1996, Umesh Reddy raped and killed a 16-year-old girl in Chitradurga, Karnataka. Now, 20 years later, the Supreme Court confirmed his death penalty. He was convicted in 21 cases, including rape and murder.
Police officials who have investigated the cases involving Umesh said that he targeted housewives. He would visit houses in the afternoon, when the husbands were away at work, and gain entry on the pretext of asking for water or an address. He would then threaten the women at knife-point, rape and kill them. In some cases, he would even tie up the women before raping them. Umesh also took jewellery the women were wearing before escaping to make it look like a robbery.
B A Umesh or Umesh Reddy was born in 1969 in Basappa Malige village in Chitradurga district. He joined the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and was posted in Jammu and Kashmir as a guard at the house of a commandant. While being stationed there, he attempted to rape the commandant’s daughter. Though he was arrested, he managed to escape and returned to Chitradurga.
Incredibly enough, in 1996, he joined the District Armed Reserve (DAR) Police. The state police were unaware of his criminal background.Umesh has been accused of killing 18 women and raping 20 women across Karnataka, Maharasthra and Gujarat. He was convicted in nine cases, one of them being the rape and murder of Jayashree Subbaiah, a housewife in Peenya in 1998. He was, however, acquitted in 11 cases due to lack of evidence.
During the course of investigation, police found that several crimes committed by Umesh were not reported as victims feared social stigma.
On October 26, 2006, Judgen K Sukanya of the Bangalore city fast track court ordered multiple sentences, including a death sentence, a seven-year sentence, `25,000 fine and a 10-year sentence plus `25,000 fine.
infamous Rape cases
November 6, 2015 : A 19-year-old staff of a private hospital was allegedly gang-raped on a moving vehicle in Sulibele near Hoskote in the outskirts of the city
October, 3, 2015: A 22-year-old BPO employee was gang-raped by two drivers in a moving cab in Madiwala. The accused, who offered her a drop had abducted her and raped before dropping the woman near her PG
July 11, 2014: A 22-year-old Manipal University student was sexually assaulted by five men including a son of BSP party leader in a moving vehicle in Frazer town
October 13, 2013 : A student of National Law School of India was gang-raped by six persons in Bangalore University’s Jnanabharathi campus. Following to the incident, in 2014 all the six accused was awarded life term imprisonment by the court