Killer was god to wives

On the one hand, he professed “love” to the girls before he had sex with them but killed them in cold blood. On the other, he carefully projected an image of a “god” in the eyes of two of his three wives and the children they bore him.

The only refrain on the lips of the people of Deralakatte, where he lived with his third wife, or Uppala, his second wife’s native village, or Kanyana, Kumar’s village in Vittal, Dakshina Kannada, was “he can never commit such heinous crimes”. He is considered a respectable and “highly dignified” schoolteacher who lived his life and did not disturb anyone.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Mohan Kumar alias Bhaskar’s third wife Rathi Devi (name changed) and her mother kept on weeping and wanted to be “left alone.”

In Rathi Devi’s words, “Even if Mohan Kumar confesses to us that he has killed, we won’t believe it,” the family members said, arguing: “He has been set up by the police.
“How can a person who takes full care of his family members, who does not have a single bad habit like smoking, consuming liquor or chewing paan, and who religiously performs pooja every Friday and Saturday, kill anyone?”

Kumar’s wife also said that he had taken more than Rs 3 lakh as loan from banks, besides petty loans from herself. “He never gave us any jewellery as claimed by the police,” she said.

Mohammed, a shop owner in the vicinity, said that he always respected Kumar because he was a teacher for 23 years. But neither his third wife, nor his second spouse nor even his mother knew where Kumar taught.

Kumar’s two children, aged 3 years and 10 months, were found playing in the house, unaware of what had happened to their father.

Interestingly, Rathi Devi admitted she was aware of her husband’s previous (second) marriage to Anupama (name changed). “My husband told me about his previous marriage on the first night of our wedding six years ago,” she said. Apparently, she fell in love when she was working in a private firm after her PUC about eight years ago.

On the other hand, Anupama was unaware of her husband’s third marriage until four years ago.

“I came to know about his third marriage just four years ago. But I was aware of his first marriage with a Christian woman from Shiradi and the subsequent divorce,” she said and vouched for her husband, saying he could never kill anyone. “He took good care of the children I bore him and paid for their education in a school in Kasargod. “He would to visit us every Monday, Wednesday and Friday,” she said.

At his native Kanyana village, Kumar’s mother Chitru (about 60 years) broke down the moment when she was asked about her son. She claimed that her son married only once when he took Anupama as his wife. Kumar is Chitru’s second son. Her eldest son Ramesh stays with her while the youngest, Nagesh, and her daughter, Rajani, live separately. “My husband Maila passed away when my children were very young and I brought them up working as a daily wager on paddy fields,” she said, adding