The Hindu : Front Page : Elderly woman murdered, two held

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 16, 2006
ePaper

Front Page

Front Page

Elderly woman murdered, two held

Staff Reporter

Policemen apprehend the accused within hours after the crime was committed

QUICK WORK: Ramulu and Kondappa who were arrested on charge of murdering an elderly woman in Vyalikaval in Bangalore on Friday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: Two persons allegedly murdered an elderly woman, wife of a leading civil contractor and realtor, and looted Rs. 2 lakh in cash and gold jewellery valued Rs. 3.85 lakh from her house at Vyalikaval here on Thursday night. However, night beat policemen caught the two in the early hours of Friday and recovered the booty from them.

The police gave the name of the victim as Lakshmamma (73), wife of Narayana Raju (85) of 3rd Main, Vyalikaval. The arrested were identified as Ramulu (20) and Kondappa (21), both from Kalyanadurga in Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh. Ramulu had worked as domestic help at Lakshmamma's house for 20 days before he was dismissed, the police said.

Around 3 a.m. on Friday, three policemen attached to the Vyalikaval police station stopped two men near the Mahalakshmi Temple on Lower Place Orchards Road. When the two did not give convincing answers, the police searched a bag they were carrying and found gold ornaments and cash in it.

On questioning, the two revealed that they had murdered Lakshmamma by slitting her throat and looted the cash and jewellery from her house, the police said. Ramulu told the police that around 10.30 p.m. on Thursday, they entered Mr. Narayana Raju's house by opening the main door.

Mr. Narayana Raju and his wife were sleeping in separate rooms. The two entered the elderly woman's room and slit her throat, killing her instantly , the police said. After learning about the crime, the police took Ramulu and Kondappa to Mr. Narayana Raju's house around 4.45 a.m. When they woke up Mr. Narayana Raju and enquired him about his wife, he told the police that she was sleeping in another room. The police found Lakshmamma lying dead on the bed.

The police said the couple had four daughters and a son and all of them were living separately. Senior police officials have appreciated the work done by constable Krishna Murthy, head constable Gangarajaiah and sub-inspector Kumaraswamy in apprehending the accused.

Three hacked to death

In another case, following a property dispute, three members of a family were hacked to death, allegedly by their neighbour, in front of their house in Jnana Bharathi police station limits on Friday morning.

The triple-murder sent shock waves in the area.

The police gave the names of the dead as Sharadamma (58), wife of late Mallappa, her daughter Pushpalatha (38), advocate, and son-in-law, Ravishankar (45), consulting civil engineer.

The police suspect that the family members of Sharadamma's neighbour, Ramakrishnaiah, with whom she had a land dispute, could be behind the murder.

After the murder, the entire family of Ramakrishnaiah, including, his wife and two sons, Kantharaj and Kiran, was at large.

Later, the police apprehended Kantharaj and he has reportedly confessed to the crime.

The incident occurred around 9.30 a.m. at 5th Cross, Health Layout, Annapoorneshwarinagar, off Nagarbhavi.

As Ravishankar and Pushpalatha came out of their house and were about leave by a motorcycle, the assailants attacked them with a chopper. The couple died on the spot. Hearing the commotion, Sharadamma came out of the house to be attacked near the gate. She too was killed instantaneously.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

News Update

Stories in this Section