Miscreants hack her to death before decamping with cash, jewels

Madikeri: A home-alone woman has been found brutally murdered last night and her body was found hacked in the bathroom of her house at Kalakeri Nidugane village near Madikeri.

The deceased is Lalitha, wife of late Byladi Honnappa. She is survived by her son Gopalakrishna, who is presently working at a private firm in Mysuru and daughters Meena (residing in Bengaluru) and Chandravathi (resident of Kallugundi in Kodagu-Sullia border).

According to one of her daughters, she spoke to her mother (Lalitha) yesterday morning and as per daily routine, she called her mother’s mobile phone at about 7 pm but the call was unanswered. She said that she made about 50 calls till 8.30 pm and as the calls were not received and fearing something wrong, she called her brother and sister and informed them.

She further said that she then called one of her relatives who is staying near to her mother’s place and informed her and added that the relative along with her son reached her mother’s place and found the dog tied and barking continuously. They then pushed the front door and it opened and went to the back door and pushed it and it too opened. Suspecting something terrible had taken place, the relative called her and asked her to come immediately.

But by the time they arrived, a few relatives, who were informed about the matter by Gopalakrishna earlier, rushed to the house of Lalitha and on searching, they found the body of Lalitha hacked to death in the bathroom. On entering the house, they found the almirah, cupboard and wardrobe opened and cash and jewels missing. Strangely, the miscreants have not touched the gun kept in the cupboard.

Kodagu Superintendent of Police (SP) Kshama Mishra and Madikeri Rural Circle Inspector Ravikiran, who visited the house, summoned fingerprint experts and the dog squad and pressed them into service.

Relatives said that a few houses are being constructed nearby for which workers from other States have been employed for construction purpose. The relatives have suspected the hands of these construction workers behind the murder. They said that gold jewels and Rs. 50,000 cash has been stolen.

Meanwhile, SP Kshama Mishra said that the murder took place last night and a few items have been stolen from the house. She further said that Police officials visited the house last night and they have been instructed to conduct a thorough investigation and apprehend the killers soon.