The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Pratibha case: new judge takes charge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Pratibha case: new judge takes charge

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: J.S. Deshpande on Monday took charge of the seventh Fast Track Sessions Court, which will be hearing the Pratibha Murthy murder case.

Mr. Deshpande replaces K. Sukanya, who commenced the hearing of the case. On Monday, the Judge adjourned the case to June 8 for fixing the date for the commencement of the third phase of the hearing.

On December 13, 2005 Pratibha, a call centre employee, was kidnapped, raped and murdered allegedly by Shiva Kumar, the driver of a cab hired by the firm to transport its staff off Kanakapura Road. The Judge K. Sukanya began the trial of the case on January 2. Before she handed over the charge, Ms. Sukanya examined as many as 29 witnesses.

This includes Pratibha's husband Pavan Shetty; Pratibha's sister-in-law Shantala; Pratibha's mother Gowramma and her brother S. Srinivasa; C.V. Gowda of the Centre for DNA Fingerprints and Diagnostics; and K. Anand, Professor and Head of the Department of Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, who did the post mortem.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka