New Delhi: A man has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Delhi High Court for brutally stabbing his wife to death 21 times with a peeler knife six years ago.

The court noted that the assault on the woman's head was "so brutal" that it resulted in fracture of underlying skull bone.

A bench of justices Sunil Gaur and Prathiba M Singh dismissed the appeal of Devender Dass saying it was without any substance and upheld his conviction and sentence of life imprisonment by the trial court.

The man had murdered his wife on the intervening night of October 31 and November 1, 2012 by stabbing her 21 times with a peeler knife and hitting with a brick. He committed the crime following a quarrel with his wife.

The bench said the man had acted in a "cruel manner" in brutally assaulting his wife without any provocation.

"It is quite evident that Dass had brutally assaulted his wife. So, in our opinion, in the instant case, it cannot be said that the offence committed by Dass is 'culpable homicide not amounting to murder'. It is a case of brutal murder," it said.

Dass had claimed that he was falsely implicated in this case.

The incident had come to light when the man's landlord informed the police.