Accused takes away 50-gram gold chain from victim’s dead body, pawns it to clear Rs. 36,000 rent dues

Mysuru: In a chilling case of betrayal and murder for gain, a woman who entrusted her friend with cash and gold jewellery paid the ultimate price — her life. The so-called friend not only killed her but also stripped the gold chain from her lifeless body and pawned it to clear the pending house rent.

The gruesome incident took place on Mar. 5 in K.C. Nagar, sending shock-waves through the neighbourhood. According to the Nazarbad Police, 62-year-old Sulochana, wife of Ganganna, is the victim and 45-year-old Shakunthala is the accused and has been arrested now.

Ganganna retired from the Mounted Police and is bed-ridden. The couple lived in K.C. Nagar First Main, Seventh Cross. The couple’s son Ravichandra is a surveyor at Gundlupet and their daughter is married and settled with her family.

As Ganganna was restricted to bed, Sulochana was managing household affairs and Police said that she was financially stable. Shakunthala, who lived just four houses away, developed a close friendship with Sulochana. Their friendship extended to financial dealings. Sulochana lent her 45-gram gold bangles to Shakunthala many times so that she could take loans from a gold-loan lending private firm. Shakunthala also gave cash in return to Sulochana.

The plot to kill

On March 5, around 7 pm, Shakunthala called Sulochana, requesting her to visit her house. An unsuspecting Sulochana, wearing a 50-gram gold chain worth approximately Rs. 3 lakh, walked over, casually greeting neighbours on the way.

Once inside, Shakunthala overpowered Sulochana and smothered her on the bed with a pillow. As Sulochana lay lifeless, Shakunthala removed the gold chain and around 9.30 pm, pawned it at Durga Jewellers near Teresian College Circle for Rs. 1.50 lakh. She then went to her landlord’s house and paid Rs. 36,000 in rent arrears. She returned home and kept the remaining Rs. 1.14 lakh at home.

Covering up murder

With Sulochana’s body still in her house, Shakunthala called Ravichandra, claiming his mother had suddenly collapsed and was sweating while talking to her. Ravichandra rushed over, only to find his mother unresponsive.

Assuming that his mother had a heart attack, with the help of neighbours, Ravichandra took her to a private hospital, where doctors declared her ‘brought dead.’

Suspecting foul play, the hospital alerted the Nazarbad Police. During initial enquiries, the neighbours confirmed to the Police that they had seen Sulochana heading to Shakunthala’s house that evening and revealed details of their financial transactions.

Confession and arrest

On March 6, the Police took Shakunthala into custody. After intense interrogation, she confessed, revealing that mounting rent dues had driven her to kill her closest friend for gold. She admitted to exploiting Sulochana’s trust and planned to take off her 50-gram gold chain.

The Police recovered the pawned gold chain and formally arrested Shakunthala. Nazarbad Inspector M. Mahadevaswamy led the investigation, assisted by Sub-Inspectors Nataraju, Srinivas Patil, and staff members Satish, Praveen, Gopal, Prakash, Sanju and Lakshmi Kumbar.