An ex-serviceman bludgeoned his wife to death after she refused to pay for his addiction in Nagarabhavi on March 14. 

Deceased Manjula K B (49) and her husband were residents of MPM Layout.

The couple’s son Chandan, a software engineer at an IT firm in Yemalur, filed a complaint at the Annapoorneshwarinagar station against his father. Police then arrested Javare Gowda.

In his complaint, Chandan stated that Gowda (59) was in the military for 20 years. Thereafter, he took VRS and enrolled as a BMTC bus conductor. After serving for 19 years as a conductor, just a year before retirement, Gowda turned into an alcoholic. Gowda and Manjula have another son, Chetan, who is married and settled abroad.

Considering the ease of commute to his Yemalur office, Chandan is put up at a rented house in HSR Layout, while his parents were staying in MPM Layout, Nagarabhavi, the police said.

On February 18, a drunk Gowda fell down and injured his head, following which he was hospitalised. He hasn’t been attending work since.

On March 14, Gowda asked his wife for money to buy alcohol. She refused. An enraged Gowda grabbed an iron Buddha statue in the house and bludgeoned Manjula to death and fled.

The incident came to light when Chandan’s calls to his mother and father went unanswered. He rushed to the house and found his grievously injured mother. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, but doctors declared her brought dead. 

Gowda was produced before a magistrate and remanded to judicial custody.