The High Court on Tuesday confirmed life sentence of a man, who had murdered his wife and three-year-old son, while pretending to kill himself under a (claimed) `suicide pact’.

The Division Bench comprising Justice V G Sabhahit and Justice Ravi B Naik confirmed Mysore Fast Track Court’s 2004 order which had sentenced H A Sathishkumar of Bangalore to life imprisonment  for murdering his wife Arati and son Preetham.

 The couple and their kid had gone to stay at Arati’s house for sometime, when on March 28, 2000 at 8.30 pm, Sathishkumar had allegedly administered cyanide to his wife and son in their room. He then came out crying and pretending that he had also taken cyanide. He had got a suicide letter written by Arati and had claimed that they were fed up of debts. Arati and Preetham had died in hospital, while he was discharged after some days. Police had registered a case and during investigation the forensic report had revealed that Sathishkumar had not consumed any poison at all, which gave way to his prosecution.

Sathishkumar, who was under debts due to loss in his previous businesses, is said to have taken about Rs 3.3 lakh from Arati’s father as a loan, for starting an automobile business. Arati was insistent on repayment as he was failing to pay hismonthly installments.