HC extends parole of Priyadarshini Mattoo killer

Delhi High Court today extended till June 19 the parole granted to Santosh Kumar Singh who is undergoing life sentence in the Priyadarshini Mattoo rape and murder case.
Justice I S Mehta extended Singh's parole, which was to expire tomorrow, after Delhi police sought time to verify the grounds on which the relief was sought.
"In the meanwhile, parole is extended on same terms and conditions till June 19, 2015," the court said.
Singh in his plea has said that his wife was pregnant and needs to undergo tests between June 11 to June 13 and placed on record her medical reports.

He said he was granted parole on May 15 to appear in the examinations for the Post Graduate Diploma in Criminology and Forensic Science course that he was pursuing from Annamalai University and it be extended so that he can take his wife for the tests.
Singh, a law student in Delhi University, had raped and murdered Mattoo, a third-year law student, in January 1996.

He was acquitted by the trial court on December 3, 1999, but the Delhi High Court had on October 27, 2006 reversed that decision, holding him guilty of rape and murder.
The high court had also awarded death penalty to him in the case. Singh, son of a former senior IPS officer, had challenged his conviction and death sentence awarded by the high court.

In October 2010, the Supreme Court had upheld Singh's conviction but reduced the death sentence to life imprisonment.