Bangalore: Life sentence for Advocate Shubha, Paramour
Bangalore, Jul 15 (DC): The hall of the 17th fast track court was jam-packed on Wednesday evening as judge S.K. Ontigodi pronounced his order sentencing 28-year-old Shubha, accused in the murder case of her fiance, B.V. Girish and three others to life imprisonment. The court had found them guilty on Tuesday.
Most of those in the room were advocates and the public who were keen on catching a glimpse of the accused in the high profile case. The sentence was to be announced at 11 am but was deferred to 4 pm. The other accused in the case are Shubha’s former boyfriend Arun Verma, Venkatesh and Dinakar alias Dinesh. The court slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on them and ordered an additional 10 months simple imprisonment if they defaulted on the fine.
Shubha was further sentenced to undergo three years imprisonment for an offence under section 201 for causing the disappearance of evidence and for giving false information to protect an offender. She will have to pay an additional fine of Rs 25,000 and undergo 6 months simple imprisonment if she defaults on the payment, public prosecutor B. Venkat Rao said.
According to him, Shubha had erased the messages she had sent from her mobile phone to the other accused. “She had behaved as if she was not aware of the conspiracy to murder Girish and also concealed information about the other accused. The court concluded that she hid the truth and also hatched the conspiracy,’’ Rao said.
The prosecutor sought the highest punishment for the accused but the counsel for Shubha contended that she was just 21 year old when the crime took place. He also argued that Shubha was not a regular offender nor could the crime be categorised as the rarest of the rare. The murder happened on the night of December 2, 2003 just four days after Girish and Shubha were engaged.
Girish’s elder brother Ramesh and his wife Ratna said they felt relieved after the accused were sentenced to life terms. Ratna said she was waiting for a copy of the judgment.