Scotland, Jan 16 (BBC and Agencies) : In yet another shocking incident after cold-blooded murders of his victims by serial killer Mohan Kumar, here's another Mangalorean Roshan Dantis, who murdered 23-year-old Nepalese woman in Scotland mercilessly severing her head and hands with a cleaver and has been sentenced to 24 years jail. His cold-bloodedness is apparent with the fact that he copied the gruesome killings in the best-selling Kathy Reichs novel Devil Bones.
The 30-year-old Roshan Dantis hails from Udupi region and a former student of reputed college of undivided South Kanara, India. He was also once an employee of multinational bank from Dubai .
A jury at the High Court in Glasgow found Roshan Dantis guilty of killing 23-year-old Khusbu Shah at her home in Dennistoun on June 1 last year.
He was also convicted of attempting to defeat the ends of justice and extort cash and a TV from Mrs Shah's husband.
Roshan and Mrs Shah
Dantis was handed a mandatory life sentence and told he must serve at least 24 years in prison.
During the trial, the court heard how Dantis met Khusbu Shah's husband, Nagendra, in 2008 when they started a business masters degree at Strathclyde University.
The jury was told that he became increasingly jealous of his friend's more affluent lifestyle and formed a plan to kill Khusbu and extort £120,000 from her husband.
'Dangerous murderer'
On June 1 2009, he attacked Khusbu, the mother of a four-year-old child, at her home in the city's Coventry Drive.
He strangled her before hacking her body with the meat cleaver he had bought from a Chinese supermarket. Dantis then Khusbu's severed head and hands in bags, along with the cleaver and the top he had been wearing, before ditching them in bushes at a nearby railway embankment, just a short distance from the flat.
The court was told that following the murder, Dantis tried to extort cash and a TV from Mr Shah but his friend grew suspicious and contacted police.
When Khusbu's remains were eventually discovered, Dantis's DNA was detected on items such as the holdall that contained her body and the cleaver.
A jury at the High Court in Glasgow was shown the telephone records of Dantis' wife Astrid, which featured text messages sent to her partner.
The messages were sent to two different mobile numbers. One of these numbers was used to call a taxi to Khusbu's home in Coventry Drive. The caller also issued instructions to pick somebody up from the accused's flat in Garthland Drive.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel Donald Findlay, Mr Dickson agreed that the recovered telephone data discussed in court referred to calls and texts made from one Sim card to another and not one person to another. A Sim card can be taken out of an account holder's phone and used in another person's handset, the witness said.
He also borrowed books from the library - including Devil Bones and another on murders, pathology and forensic detection.
He denied any involvement throughout the trial and claimed to have been framed. But a jury at the High Court in Glasgow did not believe him and convicted him unanimously of the murder.
Judge Lord Pentland jailed him for life and also recommended that he be deported at the end of the sentence.
"Khusbu Shah was a vibrant and loving young mother whose husband was one of your best friends," he said.
The cleaver used to kill her was found in undergrowth. "You strangled her and then cut off her head and hands. The exact motive for this crime may never be known. "But, whatever your motive, you planned this crime well in advance and put these plans into effect with chilling composure."
Lord Pentland added that Dantis murdered the young mother in her own home and "desecrated" her body by dumping the remains.
The Shahs married in their homeland of Nepal before arriving in Glasgow in 2008.
In a statement, Khusbu's husband said: On January 12, 2010 Roshan Dantis, was found guilty of murdering my wife in the most terrible and terrifying way. Khusbu was my beautiful wife, Nikhil's perfect mum and Jaiswal couple's lovely daughter. "She was always cheerful, caring, friendly and helpful. She managed to fit everything in so well with her life: work, study and family. We miss everything about her and we always will."
"She was brutally killed by a ruthless evil man. My four-year-old son, Nikhil, has had to cremate his 23-year-old mum. I wish no other child to have to go through the same pain. Dantis deserves a life sentence for his heinous crime and our family is satisfied that he has been brought to justice, said Nagendra.
Det Sup Michael Orr, of Strathclyde Police, described Dantis as "one of the most dangerous murderers Scotland has known".
"(This was) a truly shocking case that evidenced a level of preparation and clinical planning that is rarely if ever uncovered in a murder investigation," he said.
"Dantis has shown not a grain of remorse throughout the entire proceedings and has continually lied and changed his story to clearly implausible levels in an attempt to save himself from conviction."
Nagendra Shah with his wife
Earlier on Jan 6, 2010:
I was framed by gunman,’ says accused
A man accused of murdering a Nepalese woman admitted to a jury yesterday that he was involved in covering up the crime, but said he had been forced to do so by a mystery gunman.
Roshan Dantis, 30, claimed the gunman ordered him to clean Khusbu Shah’s flat and remove a blue bag that was later found to hold some of her body parts. He told the court he believed he had been “framed”.
The remains of Mrs Shah, 23, were found in undergrowth in the Dennistoun area of Glasgow, in June of last year. Her head and hands, which were found nearby, had been removed. Dantis, from India, denies murdering Khusbu and attempting to extort £120,000 and a television from her husband.
Dantis, who is studying at the University of Strathclyde, said he had let a man into his flat on the morning of June 1, thinking he had come to read the gas meter. The man then took out a gun and pointed it at him. “It is not something I’d ever imagined happening to me. I was scared,” Dantis told the court.
Dantis said the “English-Asian” man opened his bag and brought out photographs of him and his wife. “He asked me to stay quiet and listen to him,” he said. “He told me he had planned to do something that had not worked out as planned and he wanted me to do something for him.”
Dantis said the man instructed him to go to his classmate Nagendra Shah’s house and clean it. The man also told him to leave a blue holdall he would find in the flat outside, so it could be collected. “He said not to mention this to anyone or he would harm me and my wife,” Dantis said.
Donald Findlay, QC, defending, asked Dantis why he did not call the police when the man left. “I was scared for my life at that point,” he replied. “I wanted to do what would save me.”
Dantis said that when he arrived at Shah couple’s flat the door was ajar and nobody was in. He could see there had been a “disturbance”, he said, because there were things lying all over the floor. He told the court he bagged some items before finding the blue bag mentioned by the gunman in the bathtub, where there was also some blood. The bag “appeared heavy”, he said, but he did look not at its contents.
Findlay suggested that he had helped to clean the crime scene and removed “the headless and handless corpse” of his friend’s wife.
Dantis sobbed as he replied: “I did not know at that time what I was doing. This is something that should not have happened. The fact that I did not go to the police and not tell them, just feels so wrong.”
Dantis said that two days after he had been at the couple’s flat the gunman approached him at university and threatened him again.
Findlay later asked him if he thought he had been framed for Khusbu’s murder. “I believe so,” replied Dantis. Looking over to Shah, who was sitting in the public gallery, Findlay urged Dantis to “put an end to it” if he was not telling the truth. “I did not murder Khusbu Shah,” said Dantis. “That is the truth.”
While giving his evidence, Dantis also denied claims that he was behind text messages sent to Shah demanding a ransom after his wife had disappeared. He said he asked his classmate for a copy of the text because it had implied he was involved and because he wanted Shah to go to the police.
He additionally told the court he had “no financial worries”, other than minor credit card bills of less than £1,000. However, he admitted that he knew Shah planned to spend £180,000 on buying a restaurant.
When questioned by prosecutor Dorothy Bain, QC, Dantis agreed that Khusbu was the victim of a “brutal and violent attack”. Bain asked him if he was the “monster” who killed her. “No, ma’am,” he replied.