Man in Karnataka serves 1.5 years in jail for 'murdering' wife, she turns up alive in court

A court in Mysuru, taking serious note of lapses on the part of the police, has ordered the Superintendent of Police (SP) to submit a complete report before April 17 in connection with a case in which a woman, allegedly murdered by her husband in 2020, has now appeared before it-alive.

This comes even as Suresh, the husband of the woman named Mallige, had spent almost one-and-a-half years in jail on murder charges.

The case pertains to the arrest and imprisonment of Suresh, aged about 38, who had lodged a complaint in December 2020 stating that his wife Mallige had gone missing from Kushalnagar in the Kodagu district.

Subsequently, the police found the skeleton of a woman in Bettadarapura (Periyapatna taluk) and filed a charge sheet in court, alleging that the skeleton belonged to Mallige and that Suresh had murdered her. He was then jailed.

On April 1, Mallige was found in Madikeri by a friend of Suresh, who saw her with another man.

The matter was brought to the notice of the Fifth Additional District and Sessions Court, and she was subsequently produced before the court.

Taking serious note of the police's lapses, the court on Thursday directed the SP to submit a complete report on the case by April 17.

Speaking to reporters, Suresh's advocate, Pandu Poojari said, "Suresh, who is from a village in Kushalnagar, had lodged a complaint in 2020 at the Kushalnagar Rural Police Station regarding his wife's disappearance. Around the same time, a skeleton was found within the Bettadarapura police station limits. A year later, Bettadarapura police arrested Suresh, alleging that he had killed his wife over an illicit affair. A case was registered against him." The police had sent the skeleton for a DNA test along with blood samples from Mallige's mother.

"Even before the DNA report came, the police filed the final charge sheet in court. Later, though he got bail, the DNA test report that eventually came showed a mismatch," he said.

When a discharge application was filed citing the DNA mismatch, the court did not accept it and asked for witness examination, including that of Mallige's mother and villagers.

"Everyone deposed before the court that she was alive and had eloped with someone. The court questioned the Kushalnagar and Bettadarapura police about the loopholes in the charge sheet, but they defended their investigation and maintained that the skeleton belonged to Mallige and that Suresh had murdered her," the advocate said.

Meanwhile, on April 1, Mallige was found at a hotel in Madikeri, having a meal with a man. She was spotted by Suresh's friend, who is also a witness named in the charge sheet.

She was taken to the Madikeri police station, following which an "advancement application" was filed before the district judge's court.

"The court, treating the matter seriously, asked police to produce her immediately. She was then presented in court. When questioned, she admitted to eloping and marrying another man. She said she was unaware of what had happened to Suresh. She had been living in a village named Shettyhalli, just 25-30 km from Madikeri, but police made no effort to trace her," he added.

Calling this a very serious and rare case, the advocate said the key questions before the court now are: whose skeleton was it, and why did the police file a false charge sheet? "The court had summoned the SP and the investigating officers in the case, but they had no answers to offer. It has now directed the SP to file a complete report on the lapses before April 17 before delivering the judgment declaring Suresh innocent," he said.

Stating that he is awaiting the court's final order, the advocate said that once it is issued, he will file a writ petition in the High Court regarding the trauma his client endured and against the police for filing a false case against him.

"I will seek justice and compensation for my client. We will also approach the Human Rights Commission and the ST Commission, as Suresh is a poor man from the ST community," he said.

Further, he added there should be a probe into the skeleton case and whether there was a conspiracy by the police to close both cases by naming Suresh as the accused.

(This story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI).