Arun Uppinangady
Daijiworld Media Network - Puttur

Puttur, Jun 5: A woman was found brutally murdered in her house located near Uppinangady church here on Thursday June 5.

The deceased has been identified as Pushpalatha (34), wife of Gurumurthy, the headmaster of a government high school in Hirebandady village, Puttur. Pushpalatha hailed from Byatarayanapura, Bangalore, while her husband is from Kollegal.

Gurumurthy and his family stay in a rented house belonging to Uppinangady church. Pushpalatha was found bludgeoned to death in the kitchen of the house. It is said that after committing the crime, the culprit locked the front door from the outside and hence the murder did not come to light till evening.

When the couple's children returned home from school, they found the door locked from the outside and called their father on phone. Gurumurthy, who was in the school at the time, rushed home along with his colleague and broke open the lock. When they entered in, his wife was found lying in a pool of blood in the kitchen, said Gurumurthy in his statement to the police.

There are three houses in the colony, and a majority of the residents are employed and go to work every morning, and only Pushpalatha remains in the colony most of the time. On Thursday too, Pushpalatha was alone after her children left for school and husband for work. It is surmised that the murder took place while Pushpalatha was out washing clothes, as wet clothes were found on the washing stone as well as on the nearby clothesline.

During investigation of the spot, Gurumurthy said that a gold chain weighing six sovereigns which his wife was wearing had gone missing. He expressed suspicion that the murderer might have approached her when she was washing clothes, taken her into the house and then killed her for gold. However, Pushpalatha's gold earrings were found to be intact.

Gurumurthy said that when the children, who go to a school run by the church, came home for lunch, they found the door locked from the outside, and called him on phone. "I came home and on seeing the door locked, I thought my wife had gone out to visit some aquantaince. I gave some money to the children and told them to buy lunch from hotel. When I did not hear from my wife even till evening, I grew anxious and came home with my colleague. On breaking open the door, the murder came to light," he said.

As the door was locked from the outside, it is suspected that it might have been an insider's job who took the trouble to find the lock after committing the murder. Also, as her earrings were found to be intact, the theory that she was murdered for gold may not hold water.

Dakshina Kannada SP Dr Sharanappa rushed to the spot along with Puttur DySP Henry Mendonca, circle inspector Suresh Kumar and other police personnel. Fingerprint experts were called and canine squad was also pressed into action.

Speaking to reporters, Dr Sharanappa said investigation into the murder has begun, and a special team would be formed to speed up the process. He assured that the culprit would be arrested soon.

Puttur MLA Shakuntala Shetty too visited the spot and urged the police to catch the murderer soon.