Bengaluru, Oct. 16 -- The Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday rejected clemency petitions of Shubha Shankaranarayana and D Arun Verma, who are serving life sentences for December 2003 murder of Shubha's fiance, software engineer BV Girish, in Bengaluru. The Cabinet held the killing was premeditated and exceptionally brutal, and that the pleas could not be accepted under the applicable legal framework. "It has been rejected because there is no scope in the law for it. We took an opinion from the Law Department before placing the matter before the Cabinet. The recommendation will be sent to Governor Sudha Yadav for a final decision on the petitions," said home minister Priyank Kharge. The petitions followed a July 14, 2025, Supreme Court order upholding the life sentences of all four convicts. The court had given eight weeks to approach the Governor under Article 161 of the Constitution, which empowers Governors to grant pardons, remit sentences or commute punishments in matters within a state's executive jurisdiction. The Governor will take the final decision on the petitions. Girish, 27, worked with Intel in Bengaluru. Shubha, then 20, was studying law at BMS Law College. The two got engaged on December 1, 2003. On December 3, Shubha, who didn't wish to marry Girish, too him out to an aircraft viewing point. There, an assailant struck him on the head with a rod. Girish was taken to hospital, where he died the next morning. Shubha, Verma and two other men, A Venkatesh and Dinesh were later arrested....