SC confirms life term for killing ex-Karnataka MLA's daughter

A bench of Justice H S Bedi and J M Panchal recently dismissed the petition of G Parshwanath of Bellary in which he had challenged the life term awarded to him for killing his wife Chethna and their five- year-old son.

Even though there was no witness to the murder which was committed by setting the house on fire during day time, the circumstantial evidence led to the conviction of Parshwanath, his mother and sister.

“The human agency may be faulty in expressing picturisation of actual incident, but the circumstances cannot fail,’’ the bench said. Chethna, a computer engineer, was the daughter of former MLA Jwalnaiah and Radhama. She  was married to Parshwanath in 1987.
Parshwanath was running a school in Bellary and did not have good relationship with his wife. The prosecution submitted that Parshwanath had an illicit relationship with another woman and wanted to marry her after killing his wife and son.

On May 13, 1993, the neighbours of Parshwanath noticed smoke billowing from his Bellary house. One of the neighbours summoned fire brigade and also informed the police. The front door of the house was  locked from outside. The police  recovered the charred bodies of Chethna and her son inside.The Sessions Court at Bellary had convicted all the accused and the judgement was confirmed by the Karnataka High Court on Dec 7, 2004.