Daijiworld Mediat Network - Bengaluru (MS)

Bengaluru, Oct 28: Death sentence awarded to the infamous Dandupalya gang by the subordinate court, in the murder case of Sudhamani of Magadi road, Kamakshipalya, that took place 17 years ago, was quashed by the High Court. Divisional bench comprising of judges Ravi Malimath and John Michael D'Cunha gave this important decision after hearing the appeals filed by both the registrar general and the convicts.

While the bench commuted the death sentence of convicts Venkatesh, Munikrishna and Nallatamma to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10000, the fourth convict Laxmi was acquitted.

The divisional bench said that three convicts have been awarded prison sentence as the ornaments belonging to the victim have been recovered from them. However, the prosecution has failed to prove that they indeed murdered Sudhamani. The Bench said, "According to the guidelines of the Supreme Court, the accused cannot be convicted for murder in cases of this nature." Hence, it modified the earlier decision given by the subordinate court on August 30, 2010.

According to the history of this case, four members of Dandupalya gang went to the house of Sudhamani (42), a resident of Magadi road in Kamakshipalya on March 22, 2000, on the pretext of asking for water to drink and killed the lady in a barbaric manner by slitting her throat. In addition, they also looted the mangalasutra on her neck and other ornaments. Subordinate court had awarded death sentence to all the four accused in this case.

So far the convicts of Dandupalya gang have been acquitted in seven cases. They have been awarded life sentence in only one case. High Court has ordered the retrial of the Mangaluru twin murder case.