New Delhi: The Delhi High Court today convicted Santosh Kumar Singh, son of a former IPS officer, in the sensational case of rape and murder of Priyadarshni Mattoo.
He was convicted on both counts of rape and murder.
Allowing the CBI appeal against the trial court verdict acquitting the accused, Justice R Sodhi and Justice P Bhasin said "the acquittal order passed by the trial judge in 1999 has shocked the conscience of the judiciary".
The bench said it would prescribe the sentence of death or life imprisonment to the convict after Diwali vacation.
The court ordered CBI to take Singh, who was present, into custody forthwith.
The court said the overall analysis of the circumstances proved beyond doubt and the evidence is unimpeachable that Singh has committed rape and murder.
"We are of the view to convict him (Singh) under section 302 (murder) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code," the bench said.
The court observed that the trial court verdict was "perverse" and shocked the judicial conscience.
The court said the evidence was incompatible with Singh's plea of innocence and "we held him guilty of the offence he committed".
The bench said it was considering giving Singh either death or life sentence and fixed October 30 for hearing arguments on the point of sentence.
Mattoo, 23-year-old third year law student of Delhi University, was raped and murdered by Singh, who was a year senior to her, at her Vasant Kunj residence in South Delhi on January 23, 1996.
