On May 11, a lady had complained that her husband has gone missing after he fell into Gurupura river accidentally. However, on May 17, the City Police were ready to expose the loopholes in the cock and bull story concocted by the couple.
Producing Swathi (21) and her ‘missing’ husband ‘Srinivas Padakannaya (26) before the media, Mangalore City Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh said that the couple had not only alleged that the police were inactive but also gave out false information, thus misleading the police.
“Padakannaya is engaged in share business and he had incurred huge loss. It is learnt that he had to clear off debts to several people and to save his face, he had staged the missing ‘episode’ with the help of his wife. They have been taken into police custody,” he said adding that the police had suspicion looking at the behaviour of Swathi.
“When the police initiated search operation for Srinivas, Swathi refused to co-operate. She was reluctant to give proper information, which forced the police to look at other alternatives,” Singh said.
Srinivas had an account at the Panambur branch of SBI and on May 12, he had drawn Rs 700 from Sringeri SBI ATM. On May 15, he had withdrawn Rs 100 from Murudeshwara SBI ATM. When the police crosschecked the video recording of SBI Sringeri ATM, it was confirmed that Srinivas had drawn money in person. A case has been filed against Swathi’s parents for misleading the police.
The Commissioner had not only urged the general public to be aware of people who take up duping and cheating as their profession but also expressed surprise over the expertise of the couple who were well-versed in cheating people.
Background
On May 11, Swati and her parents had complained that Srinivas fell into Gurupura river, near KISCO factory at Kuloor and since then, he has gone missing. The incident occurred when Srinivas and Swati were traveling on a scooter and Srinivas fell into the river after losing control over the vehicle. The case was registered at Panambur station and promptly the fire personnel were called in for search operation but even after four days, there were no traces of Srinivas. However, on May 15, it was learnt that Srinivas was admitted in Padmavati Hospital, Surathkal.
Accused’s version
When the police interrogated him, he had said that he was rescued from the river by a group of three men who had taken him in Tata Sumo and administered sleeping pills. In inebriated condition, they had shaved his head off, assaulted him on his head and had then thrown him at Kundapur.
