Daijiworld Media Network - Puttur (SP)

Puttur, Apr 21: A woman had died after falling into a well at Kochakatte in Perabe village in the taluk three years ago. Even though it was initially thought to be a case of suicide, postmortem report had established that the woman was murdered. The fifth additional district court here, which conducted trial in the case, has now announced its verdict holding the husband of the woman guilty of murdering her.

Lakshmi from Perabe had fallen into well and lost her life on November 10, 2014. At first, it was treated as a case of suicide. But postmortem examination had found that the woman was murdered beforehand.

Suresh, husband of Lakshmi, was the murder-accused. Since the last five years, he used to mentally and physically harass Lakshmi. On November 10, he had fought with his wife after finding fault with the way the Sambar tasted. In a fit of rage, he hit her forehead with a wooden object, causing her instant death. He then dumped the body into the well to make it look like a suicide case. Kadaba police had recorded that Lakshmi ended her life, due to mental harassment meted out to her.

During the tests conducted at the forensic laboratory at Deralakatte, a team led by Dr Sooraj S Shetty had found that Lakshmi had suffered a deep gash in her skull. On this basis, it gave the opinion that it was a case of murder. The court, which conducted the hearing, has come to the conclusion that the charges of murder under section 302 of Indian Penal Code, physical and metal torture under section 498, and destruction of evidence under section 204 have been proved. Quantum of punishment will be announced later.

The prosecution was represented in this case by public prosecutor, Uday Kumar.