Karnataka HC rejects serial rapist-killer Umesh Reddy's plea; he had confessed killing 18 women after rape

Bengaluru: Karnataka High Court Wednesday rejected petition of rape convict Umesh Reddy seeking life sentence instead of death. With this, Reddy will be executed in six weeks time. 

Rejecting the plea, the High Court Bench comprising Justices Aravind Kumar and Pradeep Singh Yerur, observed the heinous crime could not be pardoned.

Reddy had confessed to killing 18 women and was convicted in nine cases.

The convict's counsel appealed to the bench to grant him life considering his mental condition.

Reddy was nabbed in 2002 in Bengaluru after two auto drivers identified him at a barbershop near Peenya. He has been on the run since 1997.

The convict used to target lone women and barge into the homes on the pretext of asking for water, tie them up and rape them at knifepoint. After committing the crime, he used to murder them.

Reddy was accused of rape and murder cases in Bengaluru, Kunigal, Vadodra, and Ballari.

He is currently lodged in the Hindalga jail in Belagavi. He is a native of Chitradurga. (UNI)