The Hindu : Karnataka News : Sessions court sentences Shraddananda to death

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Sunday, May 22, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Sessions court sentences Shraddananda to death

Staff Reporter

Wait for High Court confirmation, says Judge

BANGALORE: The 23rd Additional City Civil and Sessions Court on Saturday sentenced the self-styled godman Swami Shraddananda to death for murdering his wife, Begum Shakereh Namazi.

The judge, B.S. Totad, on Friday convicted Shraddananda, alias Murli Manohar Mishra, 69, for murder and destruction of evidence. The judge directed the Prison authorities not to execute the order till the High Court of Karnataka confirms it.

The court also sentenced him to five years' rigorous imprisonment and ordered him to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000 for destruction of evidence.

Meanwhile, Shraddananda's counsel, C.H. Hanumantharaya, said they will file an appeal in the High Court against the sessions court's verdict.

After the judgment was pronounced, emotional scenes were witnessed in front of the court complex where Shakereh's daughters and relatives had gathered. Her daughters, Saba Bakhacha and Esmath Khaleeli, said they are "happy" about the judgment. "But can we get back our mother?" they asked. The Special Public Prosecutor, C.V. Nagesh, said: "Justice has prevailed."

According to the chargesheet filed in the court by Inspector C. Veeraiah of the Central Crime Branch, who investigated the case, Shraddananda drugged Shakereh, placed her body in a coffin and buried it in a corner of the compound of her palatial bungalow on Richmond Road on April 28, 1991.

After divorcing her husband, Akbar Khaleeli, a former diplomat, in 1985, Shakereh married Shraddananda of Madhya Pradesh in 1986. She was the granddaughter of the former Dewan of Mysore, Sir Mirza Ismail.

The State had argued that Shraddananda had murdered Shakereh to usurp her property. Shraddananda continued to live in Shakereh's bungalow after her death. When Shakereh's daughters questioned Shraddananda about their mother, he had told them that she had gone abroad.

One of her daughters lodged a complaint with the police about her "missing" mother. In 1994, a constable, Mahadeva, took out a servant of Shraddananda for a drink and he spilled the beans. In April 1994, Shakereh's body that was reduced to a skeleton was exhumed.

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