BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Thursday reduced serial killer 'Cyanide' Mohan Kumar's death penalty to life imprisonment in the rape and murder case of one Anita of Kolimane in Bantwal taluk.
The division bench of judges Ravi Malimath and John Michael Cunha modified the death penalty judgement passed by the trial court. They directed the prison authorities to not release Mohan Kumar until his death and also said that he would not be entitled to remission.
In 2009, Mohan Kumar, promising to marry Anita, took her to Hassan city from Bantwal, where he allegedly raped her. He then, reportedly, took her to a bus stand in Hassan asked her to take a birth control pill. Not knowing that the pill was laced with cyanide, Anita consumed it and she was found dead in a toilet at the bus stand.
Out of 20 such similar crimes perpetrated by Mohan between 2003 and 2009, the alleged serial killer has been sentenced to life imprisonment in four cases, including the death penalty in three cases.
In Anita's case, he had filed an appeal in the High Court against the death penalty and pleaded for a life sentence. However, prosecution pressed for a death penalty. However, the court absolved Mohan from the rape and abduction charges framed against him.