Accused gets Life imprisonment in Lalitha Devadiga Murder Case
The court has awarded life imprisonment along with a penalty of Rs 90000 in the case. Kundapur additional district and sessions judge Prakash Khanderi passed the judgement.
It may be recalled that on 2016 April 15, an elderly was found dead in the hotel room here. Though it was initially believed that she must have suffered a cardiac arrest, marks around her neck suggested that she was killed. A man who had accompanied her and had booked the room in the name of Azhar Afzal Khan had gone missing since the death of the woman. The police who plunged into action instantly nabbed Khan from Mumbai after tracing his mobile location.
Khan, a native of Gujarat used to work in a garment unit in Mumbai where 33-year-old Shobha too was employed. Khan developed a one-sided love for Shobha and when Shobha married Vijaysheel out of her own choice, Khan left the job out of dejection.
After several years, Khan came in contact with Shobha and became a family friend. During this meeting, he confessed his love to her and surprisingly found Shobha reciprocate.
On asking her to marry him, Shobha is said to have asked Khan to convince her mother Lalitha. With the mission of convincing Lalitha to get her daughter married to him, Khan came to Gangolli where Lalitha was residing.
On April 15, Lalitha had come to the hotel room to meet him. Khan had taken Lalitha to the room from the lobby and the two had lunch in the same hotel where Khan is said to have brought up the topic of marriage.
When Lalitha refused to give her consent for the marriage Khan strangled her with a wire that he had kept ready in his pocket and fled with Lalitha’s gold.