After gathering dust for over a year, a missing person case registered in July 2021 has turned out to be a murder. The Chamarajpet police, based on instructions given during a recent crime review meeting, cracked the murder case of a 43-year-old woman and arrested a 35-year-old rowdy-sheeter and his female associate on Wednesday.
The victim Chankdrakala was living alone in a rented house and worked at a gunny bag stitching unit. The accused Lakshmi, 38, was also working in the same unit and noticed Chandrakala was alone and had some gold jewels. She hatched the plan with Narayana G. to kill her and rob the valuables.
As per the plan, Lakshmi offered to get Chandrakala herbal medicines from a quack she knew for her prolonged illness and took her to Halaguru along with Narayana on the outskirts of Mandya district on July 27.
After reaching Mullayana Katte in Halaguru police station limits, the duo strangled Chandrakala with her veil and crushed her head with a boulder to conceal her identity. The accused took her bag and checked to find no valuables.
Lakshmi had asked Chandrakala to wear her jewellery when coming to consult the quack and also lied to her that they could arrange for a prospective groom while returning. Though Chandrakala agreed, she suspected something fishy and left behind her gold chain, pair of bangles and gold ring at home.
After killing Chandrakala, the accused were disappointed that they did not get the gold valuables and returned home with Chandrakala’s mobile phone. Lakshmi removed the SIM to replace with her own and started using it.
A few days later, Halaguru police recovered the highly decomposed unidentified body and registered a case of murder, but were unable to probe the case due to lack of clues.
Meanwhile, a distant relative of Chandrakala noticed her missing under mysterious circumstances and filed a complaint with the police. The police registered a missing complaint, but there was no progress in the case since then.
Recently, DCP Commissioner of Police ( west division) Lakshman Nimbargi, during a crime review meeting, asked the police to follow up on pending cases, including the missing case of Chandrakala.
Based on his instruction, the police recovered call record details (CDR) and found that the last call was made by Lakshmi. The police also found that Chandrakala’s phone was being used with a different SIM. On suspicion, the police tracked down the mobile phone user and she turned out to be Lakshmi.
Detailed questioning led her to confess to the crime, following which the police arrested Narayana as well. The duo have been charged with murder and the case has been transferred to Halaguru police station for further investigation.
