The Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday rejected the clemency petitions of Shubha Shankaranarayana and D Arun Verma, who are serving life sentences for the December 2003 murder of Shubha’s fiance, software engineer B V Girish, in Bengaluru.
Investigators later arrested Shubha, Verma and two other men, A Venkatesh and Dinesh, also known as Dinakaran. The court considered these records alongside other evidence to establish the conspiracy. The Karnataka High Court upheld the sentences later that year.
The petitions followed a July 14, 2025, Supreme Court judgment upholding the life sentences of all four convicts. The court had given them eight weeks to approach the Governor under Article 161 of the Constitution, which empowers Governors to grant pardons, remit sentences or commute punishments in matters within a state’s executive jurisdiction. The Supreme Court examined communications between the accused, including 38 text messages exchanged between Shubha and Verma between 6.37pm and 9.39pm on the evening of the murder. A trial court convicted all four in July 2010 and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The Supreme Court subsequently examined their appeals and, on July 14, 2025, confirmed the convictions and life sentences.
