News Desk: The Karnataka Cabinet has rejected the mercy petitions of Shubha Shankaranarayana and D Arun Verma, who are serving life sentences for the 2003 murder of software engineer B V Girish in Bengaluru. The decision was taken on Thursday, October 15, with the recommendations now set to be forwarded to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot for a final decision.
The Cabinet considered the murder premeditated and exceptionally brutal, concluding that the requests for clemency could not be accepted under the applicable legal framework. Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge said the Home Department had sought opinions from the police and prison departments before placing the petitions before the Cabinet.
The mercy petitions followed a Supreme Court judgment delivered on July 14, 2025, which upheld the life sentences imposed on all four people convicted in the case. The court had allowed the convicts eight weeks to approach the governor under Article 161 of the Constitution, which grants governors the power to consider pardons, remissions and commutations in cases within the state's executive jurisdiction.
The Cabinet's rejection does not mean the mercy process has concluded. The governor will make the final decision on the petitions.
Girish, a 27-year-old software engineer working at Intel in Bengaluru, was engaged to Shubha on December 1, 2003. Their wedding was scheduled for April 11, 2004. However, according to the prosecution, Shubha did not want to proceed with the marriage and wished to continue her relationship with Arun Verma, a fellow law student.
On the evening of December 3, 2003, Shubha accompanied Girish to dinner at a restaurant near his workplace. After the meal, they stopped at an aircraft viewing point on Airport Ring Road. There, an assailant struck Girish on the head with a steel rod. He was taken to Manipal Hospital but was declared dead the following morning.
Investigators alleged that the murder was part of a conspiracy involving Shubha and Verma. Two other men, A Venkatesh and Dinesh, also known as Dinakaran, were subsequently arrested in connection with the case.
The Supreme Court examined phone records, text messages, the recovery of the weapon and the conduct of the accused. The judgment noted frequent communications between Shubha and Verma before and during the evening of the murder, which formed part of the evidence considered by the court.
A trial court convicted all four accused in July 2010 and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The Karnataka High Court upheld the sentences later that year, and the Supreme Court subsequently confirmed the convictions.
With the Cabinet rejecting the mercy pleas, the governor's decision will determine the next step in the constitutional clemency process.
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