Santhosh Kumar Singh convicted in Mattoo case

NEW DELHI: More than 10 years after Priyadarshini Mattoo was raped and killed, the Delhi high court held Santosh Kumar Singh guilty of the crime. This is the first conviction in a trio of high-profile cases, which includes the Jessica Lall and Nitish Katara murders.

A two-member bench of Justice RS Sodhi and Justice PK Bhasin said the trial court’s acquittal of Singh in 1999 was perverse and shocked the judicial conscience.

“The evidence is unimpeachable that Santosh Singh raped and murdered Mattoo,” the court said. “It is proved beyond doubt that the evidence is incompatible with his innocence. We have two options now - life or death.”

Singh will be sentenced on October 30. CBI has asked for death. Mattoo, a final year  law student, was killed on January 23, 1996. She had filed a complaint against Singh for harassing and stalking her.

On the day of her murder, Singh was spotted near her Vasant Kunj house. She was found dead by the constable who had been assigned to guard her. Forensic tests showed she had been raped before being strangled. She was only 23.