Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur
Kundapur, Oct 1: In a horrific incident, a girl was found brutally raped and murdered at Karikodlu here on the night of Thursday October 1.
The deceased has been identified as Suchitra Naik (19), daughter of Govind Naik, a resident of Karikudlu, Goliangady.
The accused Manikanta (26) has been arrested.
Suchitra was working in a hardware store. On Thursday, when she did not return home from work, her family and neighbours started searching for her, and finally her body was found in an desolate, wooded area in Karikodlu.
Her naked body was found tied in a plastic sack and thrown among the bushes. There were severe injuries on the body, indicating that the murderer might have used a sickle or a sharp knife to commit the crime.
It is also suspected that the culprit might have raped and murdered her around one kilometre away and then thrown her body in the forest area.
The locals claimed that Manikanta was involved in several such cases earlier, and based on suspicion, they started searching for him. They called the girl's mobile number, went in the direction of its ring, and caught hold of Manikanta who was not far away from the crime spot. The girl's mobile phone was in his hand. He was then handed over to the police who arrested him.
Two cases in which Manikanta was involved had ended in compromise ealier. In one case, he was sentenced and came out from the jail very recently.
Manikanta has admitted to the crime. He said that he was watching the girl everyday coming back from work and conspired to rape and kill her. On Thursday evening he took a plastic sack and sickle and waited for the victim to come back from work. He killed her brutally after raping and put the dead body in the plastic sack to dump it 200 meters away. The plastic bag and a piece of cloth belonging to the victim were found 50 meters away from the body. Her other clothes are yet to be traced.
After the murder Manikanta came to Goliangady and told a villager that he had murdered the victim and wanted help to carry the dead body. But before he could be caught, he ran away. One team searched for Manikanta and another for the victim.
Meanwhile villagers have demanded stern action against Manikanta. They have said just because he belongs to a particular caste, there should not be any leniency shown to him. They have decided to protest if justice is not done in time.
DySP Manjunath and circle inspector Diwakar arrived at the spot.
Udupi SP Annamalai also visited the spot and investigated. Speaking to reporters, he assured that strict action would be taken against the accused and justice would be done to the victim's family.
Shankarayana police have registered a case. Further investigations are on. Dead body has been sent to Manipal for post mortem.