Mattoo case: Santosh Singh gets death sentence

New Delhi, Oct 30: In a landmark judgement passed by the High Court, Santosh Singh, the prime accused in the Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case, was given death sentence.

A Division Bench, comprising Justice R S Sodhi and Justice P K Bhasin, announced the punishment after it had convicted Santosh on October 17, setting aside a trial court's verdict that had acquitted him of the charges in the case in December 1999.

The Central Bureau of Investigation had sought a death sentence for the convict.

Santosh, a law student in the Delhi University and the son of a retired senior IPS officer, had raped and murdered Priyadarshini, a third-year law student, in January 1996.

Priyadarshini was strangled to death in the bedroom of her South Delhi apartment with 19 injuries on her person.

The trial court had acquitted Santosh mainly due to alleged lapses and unfairness on the part of the prosecution.

OneIndia News