JOIN USThe sixth additional district and sessions court on Saturday awarded imprisonment till death to Cyanide Mohan for rape, robbery and murder of a 28-year-old girl from Maladi in Bantwal. This is the fifth conviction in 20 cases against him.
Mohan, a government school teacher, had allegedly poisoned 20 women to death by using cyanide and was awarded death sentence in one case in 2013.
He was convicted under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage), 376 (rape), 417 (cheating), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison), 392 (robbery) and 201 (destruction of evidence).
Mohan had befriended an unmarried woman from Maladi and had introduced himself as Shashidhar Poojary. He had even promised to marry her and had exchanged phone numbers. On September 23, 2009, Mohan told her that he had to go for a pooja in Hassan and she should accompany him. On reaching Hassan, he booked a room in a lodge. Mohan had physical relationship with her. On the following day at the KSRTC bus stand, he asked her to take a pill to prevent pregnancy but instead handed over cyanide to her. The victim, who believed it was a contraceptive pill, went into the washroom, consumed it and died. Mohan collected all her valuables and checked out of the lodge.
The police on October 21, 2009 had arrested Mohan on charges of murder of another girl from Bantwal.
As many as 39 witnesses were examined, including that of a victim who survived. Also, 43 documents and 48 material objects were produced. Handwriting experts verified his handwriting in the lodge register and other forensic evidences were also produced.