Padmapriya (L) and Atul (R).
Credit: Special Arrangement
Udupi: Atul Rao, the prime accused in the disappearance and subsequent death of former MLA Raghupathi Bhat's wife Padmapriya by suicide, was declared guilty of forgery and deception, sentenced to yearlong imprisonment by the Additional Senior Civil Judge and ACJM P R Yogesh on Friday.
On June 10, 2008, Padmapriya went missing from her Karambali house. Raghupathi Bhat's childhood friend Atul Rao had accompanied Padmapriya and abandoned the vehicle on the middle of road to Kunjarugiri. Before fleeing in another car, broken bangles and blood were planted inside the car to raise suspicions of Padmapriya being kidnapped.
Later, Atul drove Padmapriya to Kumta and sent the car along with a driver who had arrived from Bengaluru. Atul had attempted to create a strong alibi by asking the driver to park his car at a specific hotel in Bengaluru. Padmapriya and Atul from Kumta travelled to Goa airport in a rented car. Atul had created a duplicate driving licence in the name of his wife Meera a month ago.
Atul next had placed Padmapriya's photo on his wife Meera's driving licence. With the help of forged driving licence, Padmapriya and Atul had travelled to New Delhi from Goa airport. Atul during his previous visits to New Delhi had rented a residence. In the rental agreement, he had provided a fictitious Bengaluru address. With the leasing agreement, Atul opened a bank account.
Though Atul, an SSLC-qualified individual, was working as a clerk in PWD department, he had declared his education qualification as BE and got a job as an engineer in Intel. Atul next travelled from New Delhi to Bengaluru and returned to Udupi after picking up his car parked in front of the hotel. After arriving in Udupi, he joined Raghupathi Bhat in launching a search for Padmapriya.
Atul even had consulted an astrologer to trace the whereabouts of Padmapriya and had performed a pooja with Raghupathy Bhat's consent to ward off threats Padmapriya might be facing. The CID, which took over the investigations, arrested Atul and filed a chargesheet in the local court on August 22, 2008.
The accusations, including kidnapping of Padmapriya and abatement to suicide, were highlighted in Raghupathi Bhat's complaint, but later dropped by the CID due to lack of evidence. During trial, Atul pleaded for leniency under the PO (probation of offenders) Act as his two children were young. Deputy Director of Prosecutions, Shivaprasad Alva, appointed as special public prosecutor in the case, argued that if the sentence period was commuted in this sensational case, it would send a wrong message to the public.
"As Atul was responsible for the death of Padmapriya, her two children had been denied of mother's care and attention," Alva had said. Additional Senior Civil Judge and ACJM P R Yogesh upheld the arguments of Shivaprasad Alva and ordered Atul to undergo yearlong imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs 5,000 under section 468 of the IPC (punishment for forgery of document to be used for the purpose of cheating).
Atul was also sentenced to six months imprisonment and slapped with a fine of Rs 5,000 under 417 (Punishment for cheating), 465 (Punishment for forgery) and 471 (punishment for dishonestly using genuine document which he knows is a forged document) of IPC. All the sentences will run concurrently.