Mysuru: In a landmark judgment, city’s 6th Additional District and Sessions Court Judge B.S. Jayashree has sentenced a man to death by hanging for burning alive his lover for pressuring to marry her.

The accused, who has been sentenced to be hanged, is 29-year-old N. Pramod Kumar, a native of Doddinduvadi village in Kollegal taluk and a resident at Sharadadevi Nagar in Mysuru, while the victim is Kruthikadevi (19), who was a resident of Kollegal in Chamarajanagar district. She was pursuing her second year B.Com course at a college in Kollegal.

Details

Pramod, an MBA graduate, who was also lending money on interest, was in love with Kruthikadevi. He had taken Kruthikadevi’s gold ornaments, which he had pledged with a private finance company and had given the money he got from pledging  to others on interest. As Pramod had promised to marry Kruthikadevi, she had given her gold ornaments to Pramod.

In the meantime, Pramod’s family had searched a girl for Pramod to get him married and Kruthikadevi, who came to know about it, began to exert pressure on Pramod to marry her. But Pramod, who had decided to marry the girl his family had seen for him, decided to eliminate Kruthikadevi, who was pressuring him to marry her, it is learnt.

How he killed Kruthikadevi

In the month of December, 2014, Pramod brought Kruthikadevi from Kollegal to Mysuru and made her stay at a lodge near Sub-urban Bus Stand. On Dec.21, 2014, he brought her (Kruthikadevi) in his Ford Ikon car (KA-03 MP-3177) to the outskirts of Mysuru towards R.T. Nagar and after reaching an isolated place, he struck Kruthikadevi’s head with a wheel spanner and made her unconscious. He then dumped her into a manhole and drove to a petrol bunk, where he purchased petrol in a can. Pramod, who came back to the spot, poured petrol on Kruthikadevi, who was still alive and writhing in pain and set her on fire before fleeing from the spot.

The next day morning, one S. Raju, who was on his morning walk, found the charred body inside the manhole and informed the Police. Jayapura Police, who rushed to the spot, found the charred body and registered a case. As the body was beyond recognition and no clues found at the spot, the Police were unable to identify the body and after waiting for two days, the Police conducted the last rites.

How the accused was caught

As the case had become a challenge to the Police, the then Superintendent of Police (SP) Abhinav Khare had formed a special Police team led by Dy.SP (Rural) Dr. Vikram V. Amathe.

The Police team began to gather information about vehicles that had passed on R.T. Nagar on Dec.21 night. The team also found a CCTV installed at a residential layout a little distance away from the spot of crime and upon checking the CCTV footages of the camera, the Cops saw a car coming to the spot of crime at about 11.50 pm and 12.30 midnight which stopped for a while and left. As it was dark, the car’s registration number was not clear.

The Police, then collected the mobile phone numbers which were active at the mobile tower near the spot of crime and found that there were 20 numbers that were active that night. The Police then began to question the owners of the 20 mobile phone numbers that were active and were confirmed that the first four persons who were questioned were not involved in the crime. 

The fifth person, who came to the Police Station, was Pramod. As he had come in his Ford Ikon car, the Police began to doubt him. When the Police interrogated him intensively, they came to know that Pramod had killed Kruthikadevi by burning her alive as she was pressurising him (Pramod) to marry her.

The Police then recovered the gold ornaments of Kruthikadevi from the private finance company, where Pramod had pledged them. They also made staff of the petrol bunk from where Pramod had purchased petrol in the night and the staff of the lodge, where Pramod and Krithikadevi had stayed for three days, as witnesses.

The Judge, who considered the statements of the witnesses and also considering the mobile phone number of Pramod, which was active at the spot of crime, sentenced Pramod to death by hanging.

Special Public Prosecutors Anand Hosamani, Vasanthi Angadi and Manjula, argued on behalf of the Government.