Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Dec 22: The district and sessions court here, which found that the crime of two persons who were accursed of smothering a friend to death in River Netravati has been proved, awarded them life imprisonment on Friday December 21. The accused who were found guilty of the charges happen to be Harish alias Koti Poojary (48) from Bantwal Navoor, and Hemachandra alias Guru (24) also of the same village.

The other accused in the case, Neelappa Poojary (56), Vasanth (40), and Ramesh (29) were exonerated for want of conclusive evidence.

Suresh and Harish had bitter enmity between them. Some friends had together attended a programme at Navoor on October 20, 2015. Suresh and others had taken bath in River Netravati at Govinapadi. They had then joined together in murdering Suresh. Later, they had called Sunanda, wife of Suresh, to tell her that her husband had slipped and drowned in the river. She had filed complaint in Bantwal police station thereafter.

The police, who initially registered a case of unnatural death, were approached by Suresh's wife with a request for detailed investigation. She said that a look at the mortal remains of her husband gave her the notion that he was murdered. During the post mortem, the doctors also had found that the neck bone of Suresh had been broken. The police, who took the suspects into custody and questioned them, realised that it was a case of murder.

Judge of the court, Nerale Veerabhadrayya Bhavani, who conducted hearing in the case, announced the judgement.