Mangaluru : The 6th Additional District and Session’s Court in Mangaluru on Thursday awarded death sentence to Serial killer Cyanide Mohan for the murder of an anganwadi assistant from Dakshina Kannada.

Mohan killed a woman at Kempegowda Bus Station (KBS) in Bengaluru on October 22, 2005. The court had on Tuesday held Mohan guilty for various offences including rape and murder. Pronouncing the quantum of punishment, the court said Mohan be hanged by neck till he is dead, subject to the confirmation by the High Court.

While Mohan has been awarded death sentence for murder under Section 302 of IPC, he has been sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for abduction under Section 366. In addition, he has been punished for seven years of RI for rape under Section 376, 10 years for poisoning under Section 328, five years for robbery under Section 392, 10 years for voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery under Section 394, one year for cheating under Section 417 and seven years for destroying evidence under Section 201 of the IPC.

Public Prosecutor Judith O M Crasta said all sentences shall run concurrently and if the death sentence is confirmed by the High Court, all other sentence will be merged with that. The court also directed the District Legal Services Authority to pay compensation to sister of the victim, who is now being taken care of by her uncle.

Background of the case is that Mohan had met the victim at Balepuni in Bantwal taluk of Dakshina Kannada district in October 2005. Mohan introduced himself to the victim as Anand and befriended saying that he also belonged to the same caste of her. On October 21, 2005, Mohan took the victim to Bengaluru promising to marry her. Both of them checked into Hotel Shabari Gate near the bus stand. Mohan had sex with the victim and the next day took her to Kempegowda Bus Station leaving her gold ornaments in the hotel room. On reaching the bus stand, Mohan asked her to take a tablet, which was laced with cyanide, making her believe that it was a contraceptive pill. She went to the toilet on the platform number 1 of the bus stand and died after consuming the tablet. In the meantime, Mohan went to the hotel room and fled with the gold ornaments of victim, Crasta said.

With this, Mohan has been convicted in 17 cases and trial in three more cases in progress. Though Mohan has got death penalty in four cases so far, verdicts in two previous cases were commuted life and simple imprisonments by the High Court.

An unnatural death report (UDR) was registered at the Upparpet police station in Bengaluru. CID Inspector Waseer Sahib had filed a chargesheet against Mohan in March 2010. Mohan was arrested by Bantwal rural police in a rape and murder case on September 21, 2009.