Innocent man jailed for 2.5 years for her murder!

• Manju disappeared, married her lover and started a new life in Chennai
• Meanwhile… Good Samaritan Rajesh, who lent his phone to her to make a call, was arrested for murder, spent 2.5 years in jail and was tortured to falsely implicate himself for the murder; Case raises questions over Police investigation

Mysuru: A case of alleged Police negligence in Pandavapura, Mandya district, has taken a bizarre turn, with a woman who was presumed murdered seven years ago turning up alive.

However, M.R. Rajesh (33), accused of killing her, spent two and a half years in jail. He has now secured bail but is still fighting in Court to clear his name. Rajesh is a daily-wage labourer from Ragimuddanahalli.

Woman goes missing

N. Manju, 35, daughter of Nagaraju and a resident of Hirode Street in Pandavapura, went missing on the night of June 23, 2019. She had married her maternal uncle, N.C. Manjunath of Neelanakoppalu village in Srirangapatna, on June 10, 2009.

However, after falling ill, she had returned to her parents’ house, from where she disappeared.

The Pandavapura Police Station registered a missing person complaint on July 3, 2019.

Murder complaint after two years

Two years after she went missing, on Aug. 11, 2021, Manju’s father Nagaraju lodged another complaint at the same Police Station, alleging that Rajesh, alias Kala, of Ragimuddanahalli village, had taken his daughter to Srirangapatna and murdered her by pushing her into the Cauvery River at Paschimavahini.

Nagaraju claimed that two residents, Ananthapadmanabha and Gurukumar, had informed him about the alleged incident. He also alleged that Rajesh and Manju were in an illicit relationship and that Rajesh used to visit their house often.

According to the complaint, Rajesh was engaged to another woman and feared that Manju would become an obstacle to his marriage. This, Nagaraju alleged in his complaint, had prompted Rajesh to take her to Srirangapatna and kill her.

Lent his mobile phone to her

On the day Manju went missing, she had approached Rajesh at the Pandavapura bus stand and sought his mobile phone to call her family. She reportedly made a call from his phone. This, however, became the basis for Rajesh’s arrest.

Relying on the fact that a call had been made from his mobile phone on the day Manju disappeared, the then Pandavapura Police Inspector Prabhakar, who has since retired, arrested him on Aug. 12, 2021 and booked him for murder and destruction of evidence.

Police reportedly recorded a confession statement claiming that Rajesh had admitted to killing Manju. They also stated that her body could not be recovered as two years had passed since the murder.

A chargesheet was subsequently filed before the Court, naming Nagaraju, Ananthapadmanabha, Gurukumar and a few others as witnesses.

High Court grants bail

Pandavapura-based advocate K.B. Natesh represented Rajesh in the case. Rajesh had maintained that he did not know Manju and had merely lent her his mobile phone when she approached him at the bus stand. He denied having anything to do with her disappearance or murder.

However, his bail pleas were rejected twice by the 3rd Additional District and Sessions Court in Srirangapatna. The High Court eventually granted him bail in February 2024, following which he was released after spending two and a half years in prison.

Woman visits father’s house

Last Wednesday, advocate Natesh received information that Manju, who had been presumed murdered, had visited her father’s house in Pandavapura and left. He also learnt that she had travelled from Pandavapura to Nagamangala.

Acting on the information, Natesh went to Nagamangala and made enquiries. An autorickshaw driver, who had dropped Manju at Mayagondanahalli, led him to her house.

Natesh then contacted the Bindiganavile Police and handed Manju over to them. He also got Rajesh’s father, Ramesh, to lodge a complaint in connection with the case, which was registered as a Non-Cognisable Report (NCR).

Had eloped with her lover

During Police questioning, Manju reportedly revealed that she had been married to her maternal uncle, Manjunath, against her wishes. She said she was in love with Nagendra, a man from Chamarajanagar, and had eloped with him and later married him.

According to her statement, the couple lived in Tamil Nadu for a year after leaving Pandavapura and later settled at Mayagondanahalli.

Manju reportedly told Police that she had no connection with Rajesh and was unaware that her father had lodged a murder complaint claiming that Rajesh had killed her. The Police have now placed her at the Santhwana counselling centre run by Department of Women and Child Development in Nagamangala.

A chargesheet has already been filed in the Court. The investigating officers acted on the complaint lodged by Manju’s father in 2021 and appear to have relied on a confessional statement. But how could a chargesheet be filed when no dead body was recovered? Where did the investigation go wrong? A Dy.SP-rank officer will conduct an inquiry into the lapses and submit a report to the Court.

— Dr. V.J. Shobha Rani, Superintendent of Police, Mandya

Another case of a ‘dead’ woman turning up alive

A similar case was reported in Mysuru district last year, when a man jailed for allegedly murdering his wife was released after spending one-and-a-half years in prison. He was subsequently acquitted after the woman he was accused of killing was found alive and living with another man in Madikeri.

K. Suresh, a resident of Basavanahalli in Kushalnagar taluk, had been arrested on charges of murdering his wife, Mallige. The then Periyapatna Circle Police Inspector B.G. Prakash had even filed a chargesheet against him.

However, after Mallige was traced to Madikeri, where she was living with another man, Suresh was acquitted. The Court came down heavily on the police, directing the Home Department to pay him Rs. 1 lakh in compensation and ordering disciplinary action against five Police officers.