Daijiworld Media Network - Beltangady (RJP)
Beltangady, Apr 19: In a decisive development in the Bhagyashree death episode, which has seen new twists and turns over the past few days, the police have arrested the deceased girl's cousin Guruprasad (20).
Guruprasad, a resident of Sulkery and student of third year degree at Ujire college, was arrested on Saturday, April 18. He was later produced in court.
He is the son of Bhagyashree’s maternal uncle. The police with the help of evidence learned that Bhagyashree took the extreme step on account of love failure. In this connection, Venur police had taken Guruprasad into custody for questioning before arresting him.
Bhagyashree, a first year BCom student of Alva's College, Moodbidri had died in a fire at her home. Her charred mortal remains were found in a room at her house. Some people had demanded for a thorough probe, insisting that it was a case of murder.
Bhagyashree and Guruprasad were reportedly in love with each other for more than a year and a half. However, for the past three months Guruprasad had maintained distance from her as reportedly he had fallen in love with another girl. Some had therefore guessed that upset by this development, Bhagyashree had committed suicide. The police found that about 3,383 SMSes had been exchanged between the two. As Bhagyashree’s cell phone did not have enough balance, she had sent a message by using her mother's cell phone at 10.29 am on the morning of the day she died. The last message said that it was her last good morning and also asked Guruprasad to console her parents.
Guruprasad during the initial questioning had only said that he did not take the Bhagyashree’s last message seriously. But the police did not stop there. After a death note emerged naming her relative Shivappa, the police stepped up the investigation, after a thorough grilling, Guruprasad revealed that the death note recovered from Bhagyashree’s house on April 16 was in fact written by him.
On Friday, Bantwal assistant superintendent of police, Rahul Kumar, local police inspector, Lingappa Poojary, and Venoor police sub-inspector, Vinayak Billava, visited Bhagyashree's home and convinced her parents that their daughter had ended her life, having been frustrated at her failed love.
Death note episode: Guruprasad is said to have written a death note in Bhagyashree’s name and put it under the bed in a room in the house of Bhagyashree. Then on the next day Guruprasad said that he wanted to clean that room. While cleaning the room, he acted as if he found a real death note written by Bhagyashree.
After finding the death note, the family of Bhagyashree started doubting the role of a Shivappa, a middle-aged distant relative. The police even called and interrogated him, but no new information emerged.
Guruprasad remained in the house of the deceased from the day of the death until this Thursday. As he was a member of the family nobody bothered to tell him anything.
It is also now revealed that Guruprasad deleted the messages in the mobile. On April 4 a WhatsApp message was sent to Guruprasad from Bhagyashree which said ‘Miss you all’.
It is said that Bhagyashree was a bright student in SSLC and PUC but lost interest in studies recently due to failure in love. She was depressed in the recent past because of this.
Post mortem report: The post mortem report says that Bhagyashree died because of the fire caused with the help of kerosene. There was a no external pressure during the death, as per report.
Though there were different types of conflicting statements from various quarters including from family, police moved on a different track. They kept an eye on Guruprasad all the time from the day of the death.
Now It is claimed that Bhagyashree had confided with her aunt’s daughter in Sulkery where she stayed for her studies. The revelation from this person may have helped the police. But exact details about this are not yet known.
The case has taken a new twist now with the arrest and admission by the accused that he wrote the death note. He has been charged with abetting suicide and for destroying important evidence.