Life sentence for Santosh Singh/Cab driver convicted in Pratibha murder

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, October 6: The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the conviction of Santosh Kumar Singh in the 14-year-old Priyadarshini Mattoo rape and murder case but reduced the death sentence to life imprisonment, saying certain things were in his favour.

"The conviction is maintained," a Bench comprising Justices H S Bedi and C K Prasad said.

However, the Bench said "To our mind, certain things are in favour of appellant (Singh). We are converting the punishment of death sentence into the life imprisonment."

Singh, son of former senior IPS officer, had challenged his conviction and death sentence awarded by the Delhi high court which had set aside his acquittal by the trial court in the case.

The apex court had on July 29 reserved its verdict on Singh’s appeal.

Singh, a law student in the Delhi University, had raped and murdered Priyadarshini, a third-year law student, in January 1996.

Singh was acquitted by the trial court on December 3, 1999, but the Delhi high court had on October 27, 2006, reversed that decision by holding him guilty of rape and murder.

CBI has sought upholding of the death sentence saying the high court had correctly appreciated the evidence leading to his conviction.


Cab driver convicted in Pratibha murder case
Bangalore, October 6: A city court on Wednesday convicted cab driver Shiv Kumar in the rape-and-murder case of BPO employee Pratibha Srikanthamurthy.

Pratibha, an employee of Hewlett-Packard BPO arm in Bangalore, was raped and murdered in 2005 by Shiv Kumar, the driver of a vehicle leased by her employer.
 

Shiv Kumar first confessed to the crime, but later backtracked and denied all the charges against him.
 

He later went on to say that he was not all connected with the case and didn’t even know the BPO employee.
 

Earlier on September 17, the fast-track court deferred its judgement in the case.
 

The trial has been in the courts for four and a half years.
 

The driver took Murthy to an isolated place and later slit her throat before dumping the body in a pit near Anjanapura layout on December 13, 2005.