Serial killer 'cyanide' Mohan convicted in 16th murder case
Mangaluru, Sep 22: "Cyanide" Mohan, a serial killer who has murdered several women using the deadly chemical after befriending and raping them, has been convicted of killing another woman a music teacher in Karnataka, taking the total number of his convictions to 16.
Mohan, who has previously been convicted of killing women in public toilets by giving them cyanide capsules, murdered the 33-year-old woman after raping her at a lodge in Bengaluru in May 2007, the prosecution told the Mangaluru district and sessions court.
The woman hailed from Uppala in Kasaragod district of Kerala.
The serial killer had introduced himself to her as Sudhakar Acharya, an employee of the forest department. He gave her a poisonous capsule, telling her it was a contraceptive.
He has used the same modus operandi in all the 20 cases against him, the prosecution submitted to the court.
Judge Sayeedunnisa pronounced Mohan guilty on Friday under various sections of the Indian Penal Code relating to murder, robbery and punishment for cheating and others, after examining 38 witnesses and 49 exhibits.
The quantum of punishment would be pronounced on September 25.
This was the 16th case in which Mohan has been convicted.
He had been accused of killing a number of women between 2003 and 2009 and had been sentenced to death in three cases and to life imprisonment in others.
In 2017, the Karnataka High Court commuted the capital punishment awarded in one of the cases to life imprisonment till death.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
