Mangaluru: Wife, paramour get life imprisonment for killing husband

They dumped the body in an empty well and sprayed chemicals to hide it

The Third Additional and Sessions Court sentenced a woman, along with her paramour, to life imprisonment for murdering her husband in 2016.

Judge Basappa Balappa Jakati found Ashwini alias Mamatha and her boyfriend Anand Mera guilty of murdering her husband Jayaraj.

Mamatha alias Ashwini had married Jayaraj of Peramogar in Kedila of Bantwal taluk in 2014. The duo were residing in a rented house in Moodbidri.

In 2015, Ashwini had delivered a girl child at her maternal house. Meanwhile, Jayaraj had picked up a fight with Ashwini after learning about her affair with Anand.

On September 13, 2016, Ashwini invited her husband to her maternal house in Moodukonaje on the pretext of giving some money. But she had hatched a plan to murder Jayaraj with the help of Anand. When Jayaraj entered the house, Anand slammed his head with a iron rod and murdered him. Later, they dumped the body in an empty well and sprayed chemicals. To mislead police, Ashwini filed a 'missing person' complaint.

Later, Anand claimed he had abducted Jayaraj. He had contacted Jayaraj’s mother using the latter's phone. He claimed Jayaraj owed Rs 62,000 to the abductors. Later, Jayaraj’s brother Girish, suspecting that something was amiss filed a complaint with police.

Moodbidri Inspector Ramachandra Nayak had filed a chargesheet at the court. The court slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 each on the duo. Two years of imprisonment and an additional Rs 2,000 fine was also slapped on Mamatha and Anand for destruction of evidence.