Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Oct 27: Through a judgment delivered on Tuesday October 26, the fast track court here sentenced four persons, accused of murdering Donderangady Yatish alias Satish Shetty, a timber merchant by profession, on December 31, 2009.  Donderangady Santosh, Surendra Poojary, Riaz and Vishwanath Shetty were awarded life sentences through this judgment.

Yatish had warned Santosh about the latter’s alleged illicit relationship with one of the former’s relatives. Angered by this, Santosh reportedly hatched a plan to eliminate Yatish. When Yatish Shetty was returning to the town in a Maruti Omni vehicle with his friend, Ashok Naik, and driver, Arun Kulal, the accused blocked his vehicle by parking their Indica car in the middle of the road at Shirur Bandeshale. The four accused, who were seated in Indica car, came out, and assaulted Yatish with swords and knives, before fleeing. Yatish was declared brought dead on reaching the hospital. A case was registered in Hiriyadka police station.

Public prosecutor, T S Chittoori, said that the fact that all the witnesses in the case offered to appear in the court and adduce evidences without fear or favour, helped in ensuring that the guilty get punished. He wanted witnesses to come forward for testimony without fear in cases of crime, so as to enable courts to punish the guilty promptly, which can go a long way in lessening the crimes in the society. He also noted that life term now means the entire life tenure of the individual concerned, and not 14 years, as per the clarification issued by the Supreme Court in Shraddhananda case.