BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Friday sentenced realtor-turned-film producer BM Govardhan Murthy to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of murdering budding actor Vinod Kumar in October 2008 and directed the trial court to secure him.
Observing that the acquittal of the accused by the trial court had resulted in a miscarriage of justice, a division bench of Justice S N Sathyanarayana and Justice HP Sandesh sentenced Murthy to life imprisonment and imposed fine of Rs 5 lakh of which Rs 4.5 lakh is to be paid as compensation to
Vinod’s mother.
The bench also found Murthy guilty of violating Section 30 of the Arms Act for using his licensed pistol to kill the actor and sentenced him to simple imprisonment for six months for the offence and imposed a fine of Rs 2,000.
Allowing the appeal filed by the prosecution against the acquittal order dated December 26, 2012, passed by the District and Sessions Court, Bengaluru Rural District, the division bench said that materials available on record were enough to conclude that Murthy had killed Vinod Kumar using his licensed pistol at a farm house in Bagaluru.
The bench also noted that eyewitnesses took the victim to the hospital. Although Shankar Reddy, a key witness, was not examined, there were other witnesses who gave consistent statements before the police as well as the court during trial. These statements established that Murthy killed the actor, it said.
Pointing out that the injured actor gave a statement to the doctor before he breathed his last, the bench said the trial court had failed to take into account the materials available in the proper perspective and hence the acquittal resulted in the miscarriage of justice.
HC rejects Munirathna’s application
The High Court on Friday rejected an interlocutory application of disqualified MLA Munirathna seeking rejection of a petition filed against his election from Rajarajeshwari Nagar assembly constituency. Unsuccessful BJP candidate PM Muniraju Gowda had filed the petition questioning Munirathna’s election.