PTI
 
Washington, Aug 31: An Indian computer programmer, who brutally killed his wife two years ago by dismembering her body parts using a meat cleaver, has been convicted of first degree murder by a US jury and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Hailing from Hyderabad, 34-year-old Praveen Mandanapu, who came to the US about 10 years ago, killed his wife Divya on June 12, 2004 using the meat cleaver and stuffed her body parts into a suitcase before dumping the remains into trash bins in Loudon and Fairfax counties. He has been convicted by the Virginia jury of first-degree murder and faces up to life in prison.

Mandanapu was arrested on June 17, 2004 in a semiconscious and suicidal state slumped over his car. He subsequently confessed to police and apparently begged to be given the death penalty. The jury took just eight hours to convict Mandanapu.

When the verdict was read Mandanapu is said to have buried his head in his hands and begun to cry, and so did his parents who had travelled from their hometown of Hyderabad.

His father Venkateswarlu Mandanapu was quoted as saying that the murder charge was part of an "elaborate conspiracy" hatched on part of his son's in-laws to blackmail for money. But the conspiracy theory did not surface during the trial.

"Divya was asking for money and materials.. They have trapped us for our money," Venkateswarlu Mandanapu told The Washington Post.

The defence had argued that police exploited the mental state of Mandanapu in getting a confession as also suggesting that the real killer might still be on the loose. The argument was further made that physical evidence gathered by investigators didn't point to his client.