Mangaluru serial killer guilty for 20th murder

MANGALURU: In another sensational case in Karnataka, a local court found serial killer Mohan Kumar guilty of raping and murdering a woman, who was allegedly his 20th victim, a police official said on Sunday.

"The 6th additional and sessions court judge Sayeedunnisa on Saturday found Mohan Kumar (57) guilty of murdering the woman by giving her a cyanide pill after raping her at a lodge in Bengaluru in July 2009," Sullia police inspector M.R. Harish told IANS on phone.

The judge will pronounce the quantum of punishment against Mohan under IPC Section 302 on June 24.

The 25-year-old victim, who hailed from Sullia, about 90 km southwest of this port city in Dakshina Kannada district, was a cook in a ladies hostel at Kasargod in Kerala across the state border, when she got acquainted with Kumar, a teacher then, who promised to marry her.

Kumar is lodged at Hindalga central jail at Belagavi in the state's northwest region, after he was convicted and sentenced to death in 4 murder cases and life imprisonment in 15 similar cases over the last decade.

Kumar was arrested in this case in October 2009 after the victim's family recognised him when his photo was published in a local newspaper following a missing complaint her younger sister filed in the Sullia police station over a decade ago.

According to the chargesheet, the victim left Kasargod on July 8, 2009 to visit a temple at her home town Sullia from where Mohan took her to Bengaluru on the pretext of marrying her and had physical relationship with her in a city lodge where he kept her for three days.