Nampally criminal court on Friday awarded life imprisonment to painter Umesh Sahani, accused in the 80-year old Susheela Devi murder case.

Susheela Devi, the aunt of Union minister of state for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju, was murdered in her flat 103 of the Lotus Apartments on Road No. 1, Banjara Hills in Hyderabad on April 27, 2010.

Punjagutta police, who investigated the case, arrested Sahani two days later for smothering the old woman to death. Sahani had been hired to polish and paint furniture in the flats owned by Susheela Devi. He also resorted to a theft in the house.

The court sentenced him under Section 302 (murder) and 380 (theft) of IPC based on circumstantial evidence since there was no eye-witness.