Couple Arrested in Vedavathi Murder Case
Mangaluru: The Puttur police have arrested a couple in connection with the murder of Vedavathi (42), wife of Jayaram who was murdered on April 4, said SP Bhushan G Borase in a press meet held at his office here on July 7.
The arrested have been identified as Karunakar (52) and his wife Prema, from Sullia.
SP Bhushan further said that Karunakar, who is a far relative of Jayaram, had borrowed up to Rs 30 lakh in loans. Due to his lifestyle, he was in debt. He had committed the crime to repay the loan. Karunakar was aware that when Jayaram went to work, Vedavathi would be alone at home. On April 16, when Jayaram was out on some work, Karunakar decided to take advantage of his absence and planned to kill Vedavathi for money.
On April 16, at around 11:30 am, Karunakar parked his two-wheeler at some distance from Vedavathi’s house and entered the house from the back door. As Vedavathi knew Karunakar, she welcomed him. After sometime, he asked her for financial help but Vedavathi refused. She then went to the kitchen to bring him some water to drink. When she was in the kitchen, Karunakar went after her and assaulted her on the head with a sickle. After killing her, he took all the gold ornaments, which were in the bedroom and worth Rs 2 lakh, and left the house.
Before leaving, he destroyed all the evidence. On the same day, he went to another place to avoid any suspicion of his involvement in the crime. Karunakar’s wife also helped him in destroying his blood stained clothes.
To investigate the case, a 10 member team of police officers headed by ASP Rishyanth was formed. After collecting all the evidence and studying the scene of the crime, the police succeeded in arresting Karunakar along with his wife on July 6. The gold ornaments were intact and were recovered from their possession.
Under the able leadership of ASP Rishyanth, the operation was carried out by Yogendra, Bhaskar, Dhanesh, Taranath, Naveen, Sullia circle inspector V Krishnayya, Madhav, Devraj, Yogitha, Amanulla, Sanjeeva Purusha, Palanivelu, Uday Rai, Iqbal, Taranath, Vasu Naik, Vijaygowda, Chandrashekar, Vijay Kumar, Ashok, Punith Kumar, Ithu Nayak, Chandrashekar, Anand Nayak, Yajnanarayan, Hanumath, Sampath Kumar, Divakar and Manjunath.