Mangaluru: The fourth additional district and sessions judge was sentenced to life imprisonment for a resident of Mumbai accused of murdering a 24-year-old probationary officer of Syndicate Bank in 2013.

Nerale Veerabhadraiah Bhavani additional district and sessions judge on Tuesday, sentenced the accused Mahesh alias Santosh Athmaram More guilty of strangulating Anjana P C to death at his rented accommodation in Bejai-Kapikad under Urwa police station limits on April 17, 2013.

According to a chargesheet that police filed, Mahesh undergoing a life sentence in Nasik prison for murder in Mulund police station limits was released from the prison on a furlough of 15 days on June 3, 2011. Mahesh, who failed to return to the prison, came to the city and worked in a restaurant and later at a mall in the central business district. Mahesh who befriended Anjana working in the bank’s Katipalla branch called her to his room on the evening of April 17.

Prascilla, the house owner rushed to the room hearing Anjana’s cry for help and found her on the floor with a rope around the neck. The chargesheet said Prascilla and her husband Jonsy took Anjana to a private hospital and then to Wenlock Hospital where she died in the early hours of April 18. The Urwa police arrested Mahesh at Udupi railway station on June 24, 2013 when he was attempting to leave the city.

Prosecutor Harishchandra Udiawar examined 28 witnesses including Prascilla and her husband Jonsy, who were the last to see the two enter the room on April 17.

Convicting him for murder, judge sentenced Mahesh to life imprisonment and directed him to pay fine of Rs 10,000. The judge while directing the prison officials to keep him in solitary confinement for three months said sentence period in the present case will commence after completion of his earlier sentence.

The judge directed the District Legal Services Authority to determine and pay compensation to the dependants of Anjana.