Srirangapatna: The Srirangapatna Rural Police have cracked the mysterious death of a priest whose body was found in the CDS Canal near Maralagala village in Srirangapatna taluk on Friday.

Notably, the Police arrested four people, including the wife of the deceased, within three days of the incident.

The victim, Siddalingappa (46), was a resident of Maralagala village. The arrested include his wife Shalini (32), the prime accused, along with M.C. Harish (33), Santosh Kumar (29) and B.R. Ganesh (29). Police said the murder was the result of Shalini’s alleged illicit relationship with Harish.

Siddalingappa had married Shalini, the daughter of his elder sister, and the couple had two children. During the investigation, the Police received information about the relationship between Shalini and Harish.

Illicit affair leads to murder

On Mar. 9, Harish was taken in for questioning, during which he reportedly confessed to the affair. According to the Police, Harish said that Siddalingappa had once caught him and Shalini together at home and had since been harassing them. Upset over the situation, Shalini allegedly asked Harish to eliminate her husband.

Police said Shalini informed Harish on Mar. 6 that her husband had stepped out and also told him when he would return. Harish then allegedly conspired with tipper drivers Santhosh and Ganesh to kill Siddalingappa.

Information leak

When Siddalingappa was about a kilometre away from the spot, Ganesh informed Harish that he was travelling alone on his motorcycle. Harish and Santosh then waited for him at a deserted stretch near the CDS Canal.

As Siddalingappa rode along the canal bund, the two men intercepted him and attacked him with sticks, killing him on the spot. In an attempt to make the crime appear like an accident, they reportedly threw Siddalingappa’s body and his motorcycle into the canal before leaving.

Police said Harish even attended Siddalingappa’s last rites to avoid arousing suspicion among villagers.

Team lauded

Mandya Superintendent of Police Dr. V.J. Shobha Rani, Additional SPs C.E. Thimmaiah and S.E. Gangadharaswamy and Dy.SP U.D. Krishnakumar had formed a special Police team to trace and nab the accused persons, following which the accused were nabbed in just three days of the crime.

The team comprised Srirangapatna Rural Inspector H. Anand Kumar, Circle Inspector Vivekananda, Town Inspector B.G. Kumar, Pandavapura Inspector H.P. Sharath, Sub-Inspectors G.S. Rakshita Vinod, Ramesh Karakikatte and staff Lokesh, Hafiz Pasha, Chandrashekar, Sridhar, Ravikiran Lokesh, Shankar, Dinesh, Manjunath, Sharath, Santosh & Tousif.

The Police produced accused Harish before a Court in Srirangapatna and took him into custody for further investigation. Mobile phones of all four accused have been seized. SP Shobha Rani has lauded the Police team for their effective investigation leading to the arrest of four accused.