Woman, two accomplices held for husband’s murder in Karnataka

PTI, Oct 18, 2024, 10:18 AM IST

The Belagavi city police have arrested a woman who, along with her two accomplices, had allegedly murdered her husband.

The police arrested Uma Padmannanavar (42) late Thursday night based on a complaint by her daughter Sanjana (18), who had suspected that her father Santosh Padmannanavar (47) was killed and did not die of a heart attack as narrated by her mother.

Based on her complaint, Malmaruti police registered a case and exhumed the body.

While the police awaited the forensic report, the interrogation of Uma revealed that she, along with her two accomplices, Shobhit Gowda and Pavan, committed the crime.

“Uma and Shobhit had illicit relations, which could be the reason behind the crime,” a police official said on Friday.

Police arrested Gowda and Pavan from the coastal town of Mangaluru where they had fled after the murder and brought them to the Malmaruti police station. “Yes, we have arrested Uma. Along with her we have arrested her two accomplices,” Belagavi Police Commissioner Ida Martin Marbaniang told PTI.

Santosh Padmannavar was into the money lending and the real estate business.

Sanjana, who studies in Bengaluru, got the news that her father died of a heart attack on October 9. By the time she returned from Bengaluru, the cremation was conducted and the body was buried according to the Lingayat tradition.

As per his wish, eyes were donated, she was told. She could not believe that her healthy father could die of a heart attack, police sources said.

When Sanjana checked the footages from multiple CCTV cameras at home, she found them deleted. She grew suspicious and, with the help of her relatives, lodged a police complaint suspecting her mother’s involvement.

Following the complaint, the police took up the matter and exhumed the body and sent it for autopsy. The CCTV footages obtained from the neighbour’s house showed two people entering their house, the sources said