A convict who went free after 37 years

Saibanna Lingappa Natekar of Jewargi, who spent 37 years in jail after being convicted in three murder cases, was among 24 life convicts who were released from Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara Central Jail on Saturday on good behavior after serving long prison terms.

He is one of India’s longest serving prisoners.

A high school graduate, Natekar worked as a clerk in a cooperative society and was initially jailed for killing his first wife after suspecting her of having an extra-marital affair.

Natekar was first convicted in 1993 for the murder of his first wife Malkawwa in 1988. He later remarried when he was paroled. In 1994, he murdered his second wife Nagamma, whom he allegedly found with another man, and their minor daughter Vijayalakshmi, who allegedly tried to intervene, leading to a death sentence that was upheld by the Karnataka High Court.

In 2005, he applied for clemency, which remained pending for more than seven years. The long delay, along with his illegal imprisonment in solitary confinement for more than a decade, became the key reason for the legal intervention.

In 2023, the High Court commuted his death sentence to life in prison, citing inordinate delays in deciding his pardon application, illegal solitary confinement, his advanced age and the more than 35 years he had already spent in prison.

With 37 years of continuous imprisonment, Natekar’s case is considered one of the longest prison terms in India and has become a landmark in debates on prisoners’ rights, delayed pardons and constitutional limits on the death penalty.

Manikanth’s story of hope

Another case that drew attention was that of Manikantha, a resident of Chikkamagaluru, who spent 15 years in jail after being convicted in a murder case. In an interview with the media after his release, he expressed remorse for his actions and urged people not to let anger lead them into crime.

During his imprisonment, he worked for ten years in the prison bakery and earned a living. He also revealed that his longtime girlfriend stood by him throughout the sentence. During the release, the couple married and now have a four-year-old child.

“No one should commit a crime in a moment of anger,” Manikantha said, appealing to the public to choose peace over violence.

Published – 05 Jul 2026 20:45 IST