Girl's parents, brother confess to 'honour killing'

Ending speculations, the parents and brother of a 22-year-old woman who died at Chandravadi village, Nanjangud taluk in the district recently, have confessed to have murdered her for ‘family honour’.

The death comes close on the heels of a similar case of ‘honour killing’ at Thimmanahosuru near Mandya early this month.

Guruprasad, 26, and his parents Manjula, 48, and Gurumallappa, 64, are the accused. Guruprasad works as a delivery boy for an e-commerce company, while his father is a farmer. The trio has been arrested and remanded in judicial custody.

They had poisoned Madhukumari to death for courting her brother’s friend, identified as Jayaram from the same village, outside the caste. Madhukumari was averse to her parents’ decision to marry her off to another boy. Addressing media at his office on Thursday,

Superintendent of Police Abhinav Khare said Madhukumari’s parents and brother gave her mango juice mixed with insecticide around 5.30 pm on April 11. The unsuspecting woman drank the juice and started vomiting. While she was writhing in pain for three hours, the parents assured her that they would make arrangements to take her to hospital, but they didn’t. The girl died around 8.30 pm.

Initially, the parents convinced relatives and neighbours that their daughter had died of stomachache. The following day, around 11 am, the mortal remains were cremated, instead of burying them (as per the tradition of their Lingayat community). They said Madhukumari was suffering from leucoderma and hence was cremated. It is widely believed that if a person suffering from leucoderma is not cremated, the place will not get rainfall.

The SP said it was only through media that the police came to know about Madhukumari’s death. A suo motu case was registered under Section 174 (C) of IPC, related to unnatural death. Madhukumari’s lover Jayaram told police that her parents were planning to eliminate either of them.

‘None informed police’

The family came to know about her three-year affair with Jayaram, an electrician, five months ago. Soon after learning about this, Madhukumari’s parents arranged her marriage with Shivaraju of Elachagere village. The SP said neither the relatives nor the neighbours informed the police, though prima facie it appears they knew there was something fishy about the death. So, it has been decided to book those who attended the funeral, under Section 201 of the IPC, Khare said.