Deceased’s wife, paramour among three arrested

Mandya: The mystery over a decomposed body found five months ago has been solved with the arrest of three persons including the wife of the deceased and her paramour by Basaralu Police.

The arrested are 26-year-old Shylaja, wife of deceased Javaregowda from Sollepura in Kikkeri hobli, Shylaja’s paramour 25-year-old Harish and 35-year-old Anand.

Details: On Sept. 25, 2019, an unidentified decomposed body of a man was found in Hemavathi Canal near Hanuganahalli village in Basaralu Police limits and the Police, who had registered a case of unnatural death, had begun their investigation.

Though the body was highly decomposed, the Police had found the names ‘Shylaja’ and ‘Ranga’ tattooed on the right hand and ‘Raghu’ on the left hand.

Based on the tattoos, SP Parashuram had formed a team consisting Mandya Rural Circle Inspector N.V. Mahesh, Basaralu Sub-Inspector Jayagowri and staff Anil Kumar, Raju, Shivaramu, Girish, Krishnakumar and Sumalatha to be supervised by ASP Dr. V.J. Shobharani and DySP Naveen Kumar to investigate.

The Police team had distributed handbills containing the details of the deceased including the photos of the tattoos and clothes he was wearing to the villagers living on the                                      river banks.

On Oct. 2, 2019, one Rangappa of Sollepura village identified the clothes and tattoos to be that of his son Javaregowda. After establishing the identity of the decomposed body, Shylaja had lodged a missing complaint at Kikkeri Police Station.

Though Shylaja’s husband had gone missing since a few days, she had not lodged a missing complaint and she used to tell others that her husband had gone out of station whenever someone asked her about him, which led to suspicion. The Police then began to observe Shylaja’s movements.

But on Feb. 27, 2020, deceased Javaregowda’s father Rangappa, who came to the Police Station, informed the Police that his daughter-in-law (Shylaja) was having an illicit relationship with one Harish. Based on the information provided by Rangappa, the Police took Shylaja into custody on Feb. 29.

During interrogation, Shylaja is said to have confessed of murdering her husband Javeregowda with help from Harish and Anand on Sept.18, 2019 by strangulating him and later throwing the dead body into the canal. She also confessed to the Police that she, along with Harish, had murdered Javaregowda for opposing their illicit relationship and had taken the help of Anand.

Police produced the accused before a Court, which remanded them to judicial custody.