HC confirms death sentence of serial killer and rapist Umesh Reddy

Bengaluru: Karnataka high court on Wednesday reaffirmed the death sentence awarded to the notorious rapist and serial killer, Umesh Reddy.  A bench of Justice Pradeep Singh Yerur and Justice Aravind Kumar delivered the verdict rejecting his mercy petition.

Lawyer B. N. Jagadish, representing Reddy, had filed a petition seeking directions to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment. The petitioner contended that he had developed a mental illness due to 10 years of solitary confinement and that the delay of 27 months caused in replying to his mercy petition by the President of India had caused mental agony. However, the court did not find any merit in the arguments presented and rejected the petition.

Reddy was first arrested in March 1998, in connection with the murder of a Bengaluru woman. In 2006, he was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of Jayashree by a division bench of the Karnataka High court. The Supreme Court also upheld the high court’s decision in 2011.

He had submitted several mercy petitions to the Governor of Karnataka as well as the Presiden of India. All were rejected.

Umesh is believed to have murdered a string of women after raping them. He would then decamp with their valuables. Media reports, however, vary in the number of accusations against him.

Currently, Reddy is Lodged in Belagavi’s Hindalga jail.