BANGALORE: Four persons were convicted on Tuesday for the murder of B V Girish, an Intel software engineer, in Bangalore in 2003.
For the first time in Karnataka, the prosecution proved the case on the basis of electronic evidence.
The 17th fast track court found Girish’s fiancee, Shubha Shankarnarayan, and three others guilty of the crime committed on December 3, 2003.
Judge Vanti Vodi found that Shubha, an advocate, conspired with her boyfriend Arun Varma, Venkatesh and Dinesh to hatch the plan to kill Girish.
The accused were found guilty under the offences of section 302 (murder), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of Indian Penal Code.
The court will announce the quantum of punishment to all the four convicted on Wednesday.
The prosecution used the short message service (SMS) and voice calls made by the accused to prove the offence under provision 65 ‘A’ and ‘B’ of Evidence Act.
The prosecution also relied upon the Parliament attack case, in which the accused were found guilty based on electronic evidence.
“This was the first case in Karnataka where the prosecution proved the case by relying on electronic evidence,” said B Venkat Rao, special prosecutor. “I cited the Parliament attack case and proceeded based on the judgment in the case.” The prosecution established the motive behind the murder.
It submitted in court that Shubha had an affair with Varma and did not want to be married to Girish and hatched the conspiracy to kill him.
All the four have been taken into judicial custody.