'Cyanide' Mohan gets lifer in 19th murder case

Notorious serial killer 'Cyanide' Mohan has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Mangaluru for the murder of a 23-year old woman from Kasaragod district of Kerala in 2006, the 19th of the 20 murder cases slapped against him.

Sixth additional district and sessions court judge Sayeedunnisa on Monday sentenced Mohan to life and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on him.

The sentence shall commence after he serves the sentence of imprisonment in the other cases, the judge said. This is the 19th case out of the 20 murder cases registered against the criminal, who has killed several women using the deadly cyanide after befriending and raping them.

Earlier, he had been awarded death sentence in five cases and life imprisonment in three cases. Two of the death penalties were later commuted to life imprisonment.

According to the charge sheet in the latest case, Mohan met the woman while she was coming to work at an unit of CAMPCO in Mangaluru.

After befriending and offering to marry her, on January 3 in 2006, he took her to Mysuru and stayed in a lodge near the bus stand.

Like in all other cases, the next morning, Mohan asked the woman to remove her ornaments. The two went to the KSRTC bus stand where he asked her to consume a pill convincing her that it was a contraceptive. However, it was laced with cyanide.

The woman, who consumed the pill in the washroom, collapsed and declared brought dead at a hospital where she was rushed by those in the room.

As in previous cases, Mohan went back to the lodge and left the place along with her ornaments.

He was arrested later from Bantwal in 2009, after which he admitted to killing 20 women.

The judge also directed the District Legal Service Authority to take steps for awarding compensation to the woman's mother under the Karnataka victim compensation scheme.