A local court on Friday sentenced taxi driver Shiva Kumar to 'life imprisonment till death' for the 2005 rape and murder of BPO employee Pratibha Srikantha Murthy.
Fast Track Court Judge B V Guddali pronounced the sentence in a packed courtroom against Kumar for killing the 28-year-old employee of HP GlobalSoft.
The judge also sentenced the accused to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs.20,000 under for raping Pratibha. Shiva Kumar was also handed down a sentence of 10 years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs.10,000 for kidnapping her.
Shiva Kumar was convicted for the gruesome crime on Wednesday.
Kumar had conned Pratibha into travelling in his cab around 1.50 am on December 3, 2005. He took her to a deserted place, where he raped and slit her throat. Her body was found three days later.
Kumar called Murthy on the mobile and misled her into believing that the regular driver, Jagdish, was on leave and he had been given the task of dropping her at the office.
Though Shiva Kumar first confessed to the crime, he later backtracked and denied all the charges.
The trial has been going on in the courts for four-and-a-half years. It began in a sessions court in Bangalore and was shifted to a fast track court in December 2009.
A total of 71 witnesses and 218 exhibits were examined in the case.