Karkala: Man who stabbed lover to death nabbed, girl's body found buried

Daijiworld Media Network – Karkala (SP)

Karkala, Jun 10: The police have unearthed a gruesome incident in which a man, who pretended to be in love with a girl, killed the lady after she brought pressure on him to marry her. The lady was murdered in Hosabettu village in Mangalore taluk. Prabhakar Shetty (32) from Biravu village near Moodbidri has been arrested in this connection.

The murdered woman has been identified as Poornima Shetty (23) from Renjala village in the taluk, who worked in a cashew factory. Poornima had left her home on June 3 under the pretext of visiting a bank branch, before going missing. A missing complaint was filed by her parents in the rural police station here. The police had taken up this case, and during the course of their investigation, the murder incident came to the fore.

The body of Poornima, which was buried in a percolation pit of acacia plantation at Kandottu in Hosabettu by the roadside, was disinterred on Saturday June 8.

It is learnt that Prabhakar Shetty, who runs an arts institute in Moodbidri, used to visit various places for serving as a makeup artiste. During one such visit to Renjala a year ago, he came in contact with Poornima. The two soon fell in love with each other, it is gathered. The couple then began conversing over phone for long periods, followed by meeting each other either at Karkala or Moodbidri. Although Poornima frequently put forth the demand for marrying her, Shetty used to put it off.  During her visit to his institute on June 3, Poornima threatened Prabhakar of filing police complaint if he continued with this attitude.

After an argument broke out between the two on the issue, Shetty stabbed Poornima’s abdomen with a knife. When she began shouting, he stuffed clothes into her mouth and stabbed her neck, causing her death instantly. He waited till night and with the help of his three friends, carried Poornima’s body to Hosabettu, and buried the body at the plantation just a few feet away from Hosabettu bus stand, rural police station sub-inspector, Azmat Ali, said.

The police have found out that the accused also pretended to be worried and 'helped' the family to find out the whereabouts of Poornima after she went missing. The family had suspected the involvement of Prabhakar in Poornima's disappearance. The police, who found that Poornima had repeatedly called Prabhakar on her cell phone on that day, subjected him to intensive interrogation, and succeeded in unearthing the truth. Initially he said that Pooornima had committed suicide by stabbing herself, but later confessed his crime.

Some claim that Prabhakar had, on June 3, suggested to his lover that they can elope that day, and had invited Poornima over mobile phone to visit him. After Poornima went missing and needle of suspicion turned towards Prabhakar, it is said that several people including leaders of a political party for which Prabhakar used to work as a voluteer, came to his rescue, asserting that he can never commit such a crime. It is said that he also had taken a lead in the victory rally of a party recently. 

The police believe that the accused was not in love with Poornima, but was acting like loving her with the motive of developing physical relationship. They do not know as yet whether he succeeded in his motive. They now pin hopes of learning further about this murder and also whether the two had sexual relationship, from the post mortem report.

Dakshina Kannada district BJP vice president, K P Jagadish Adhikari, Umanath Kotian, Hosabettu gram panchayat president, Rita Cutinho, and several other leaders visited the spot. The policemen are now trying to catch hold of Guru, Kencha alias Ganesh, Shabareesh, and Sudhakar Shetty, who allegedly helped the accused to transport the girl's body and bury it.