The  High Court on Wednesday reduced the quantum of imprisonment to a man sentenced for life in a lower court for murdering his wife.

A Division Bench comprising Justice K Sreedhar Rao and Justice H Billappa issued orders of eight years of imprisonment. On January 14, 2009, Nagappa, a resident of Raste Magunte village in Jagalur taluk of Davangere, had murdered his wife Shantamma, enraged by her comment that she has illicit relationships. 

Nagappa, after committing the crime, reported it to the nearest police station. The Davangere Fast Track court sentenced Nagappa for life on April 24, 2009. Later, Nagappa wrote a letter to the High Court mentioning that he did not have enough money to appeal. The High Court took cognisance of his letter and appointed advocate B Anand as the amicus curiae for Nagappa. 

Order reserved

 The High Court reserved the orders on a petition filed by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (Nice) and its associate firms seeking to quash the Lokayukta court order in social activist T J Abraham’s private complaint alleging irregularities in Bangalore-Mysore Express Highway project.

Nice had filed a petition before the High Court challenging the Lokayukta court’s direction for probe into the Nice project.

The Lokayukta court had ordered probe against 30 persons, including former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, former external affairs minister SM Krishna and Nice managing director Ashok Kheny.