SC acquits Udupi man of charges of murdering foster mother; sets aside HC ruling

SC acquits Udupi man of charges of murdering foster mother; sets aside HC ruling

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, Oct 15, 2014:  The Supreme Court which has set aside the judgement of the Karnataka High Court  and trial court in December 2008, has acquitted a man from Udupi  of the charges  of killing his foster  mother. The High Court had earlier convicted the man and had sentenced him to life.

The incident had taken place in the year 2006 and Anand, the man who is now absolved  was charged with strangulating his foster mother Dorothy Cutinho to death.

The deceased Dorothy of Nejar was a retired school teacher and was taking care of one of her students  Anand  like her own son. It is learnt Dorothy who had a brother who was mentally challenged and two foster brothers had willed all her property to Anand on a pre-condition that he should marry a Christian girl.

In the meantime on March 1, 2006, Dorothy who had complained of chest pain had died  in the hospital. Though doctors initially said she died of a heart attack, upon post-mortem said she died of strangulation.

Following a complaint by her foster brothers Anand was arrested and in 2008 sentenced to life.

However, the Supreme Court has now set aside the ruling stating that Anand had no reason to murder  his foster mother who was  old, suffered from hypertension and depression. The SC Bench also observed that Anand would have gained nothing by killing Dorothy as he was not interested in marrying a Christian woman as per the condition laid down.

The Court further took note of the fact that the foster brothers of the deceased had disposed the assets of Dorothy  soon after her death and also observed that the foster brothers  might have  hurled false allegations on Anand just with an eye on the property.