Cyanide Mohan convicted in seventh case

Serial rapist and killer ‘Cyanide Mohan’ was found guilty of raping and murdering a 25-year-old girl from Peraje village in Bantwal taluk.

He was awarded imprisonment until last breath without remission (parole) by Sixth Additional District and Sessions Judge D T Puttarangaswamy on Saturday.

Mohan was convicted under section 302 for murder with life sentence of rigorous imprisonment till death without remission, 366 for kidnapping with six years of rigorous imprisonment and Rs 3,000 fine (defaulting which will invite one month of simple imprisonment), 376 for rape with seven years of rigorous imprisonment and Rs 3,000 fine (defaulting which will invite one month of simple imprisonment), 328 for poisoning with seven years of rigorous imprisonment and Rs 3,000 fine (defaulting which will invite one month of simple imprisonment), 392 for theft with five years of rigorous imprisonment and Rs 3,000 fine (defaulting which will invite one month of simple imprisonment), 201 for destroying evidences with five years of rigorous imprisonment and Rs 3,000 fine (defaulting which will invite one month of simple imprisonment), and 417 of IPC for cheating with six months of simple imprisonment.

Judge Puttarangaswamy found him guilty during the trial where 40 witnesses were examined, 64 documents and 38 material evidences, including his signature in the lodging in Madikeri where he had booked the room, were produced.

Public Prosecutor Judith O M Crasta representing the victim said that Mohan befriended the 25-year-old victim when she had come to district Wenlock hospital in order to seek treatment for her mother's eye problem.

As she did not own a phone, he used to contact the neighbour and talk to the victim. Throwing caution to winds, he had also approached the victim's mother and had requested her permission to marry her daughter.

He had introduced himself as Sadananda Naika as the girl hailed from the same community.

On January 2, 2008, he lured her to Madikeri. There he booked a room in the lodge under the name Anantha Naika and that night, he raped the victim.

On the following morning, he gave cyanide pills to the victim convincing her that they were pills to prevent pregnancy at a restroom in Madikeri bus stand. He later returned to the room, collected her belongings and left the town.

Meanwhile, the victim was found in the restroom unconscious by the cleaning staff and traffic controller of the bus stand. She was rushed to Madikeri Government Hospital where she was declared brought dead. The autopsy was conducted on January 4, 2008, and Madikeri police booked a case of unnatural death. She was buried in the public graveyard as an unidentified body.

Mohan later contacted the neighbour and informed that they were married and would return after a week's time. As the girl never returned, a missing case was filed at Vittla police station.

After Cyanide Mohan was arrested, the family realised that it was the same Sadananda Naika who had befriended her daughter.