Bangalore, Karnataka -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/26/2012 -- The 17th fast track court on Monday sentenced a 28-year-old lab technician to life imprisonment for strangling his colleague after she turned down his marriage proposal in 2009.

Judge SK Vantigodi also slapped a fine of Rs5,000 on Palani for murdering Jitin George, his fellow lab technician at Apollo Hospital, said public prosecutor Ganapathi Prasanna.

Palani and Jitin got acquainted when they were working at Narayana Hrudayalaya as lab technicians. Later, Palani joined Apollo Hospital and encouraged Jitin, too, to join the hospital. Palani fell in love with Jitin. She was three years elder to him.

When Jitin turned down Palani’s marriage proposal as her parents were opposed to their relationship, he decided to take revenge. Palani used a wire to strangle her when she was alone in the lab on the night of May 28, 2009. After the murder, he rushed to his native place and shaved his head in a bid to evade police scrutiny. JP Nagar police, who registered a case against him, arrested him in Kittaganahalli on June 6, 2009, and recovered the wire of the mobile phone charger with which he killed her.