BENGALURU: A routine visit by a beat constable to a village, around 28km from Bengaluru, has helped uncover a case of honour killing. A man from Lakkappanahahalli village near Nelamangala had killed his 15-year-old daughter and burnt her body after she eloped with a youth belonging to another caste. The crime that occurred a month ago was unearthed by Head Constable Erabhovi who had gone beat policing to the village on Wednesday. The man Chikkanarasimhaiah is now in police custody. On Thursday, Amrith Paul, IG Central Range, along with senior police officials visited the spot.
The previous day, Erabhovi had gone beat policing to the village and learnt during conversations with some villagers that a girl had gone missing and it was suspected that the father had killed her. He gathered more information and interrogated Chikkanarasimhaiah , who confessed to the crime. Later Erabhovi alerted his superiors who arrested Chikkanarasimhaiah and filed a suo motu case.
The victim Lakshmidevi, a class 10 student, was the daughter of Chikkanarasimhaiah from his first wife. Chikkanarasimhaiah (41), who did farming and carpentry work, was living with his second wife in the same village and Lakshmidevi used to stay at both households.
Three months ago, she had eloped with a youth belonging to another caste from the same village. The youth’s mother had later approached police over the issue. As she was minor, Lakshmidevi was brought back to her father.
A routine village beat by a constable helped crack an honour killing case near Nelamangala.According to police, the accused Chikkanarasimhaiah felt ashamed at the entire episode and on October 22, when his daughter Lakshmidevi was alone at home, he bludgeoned her to death.
Later, he burnt her body in the backyard. He never revealed the incident to both his wives. He told them Lakshmidevi had been sent to a relative’s house. “During interrogation, Chikkanarasimhaiah told police that Lakshmidevi was rude to him and also misused the money given to pay for school fee. There was also a dispute between his two wives over taking care of his daughter. We are investigating the case,” said Amith Singh, SP of Bengaluru Rural police. Erabhovi said that Chikkanarasimhaiah was upset at being dragged to the police station over his daughter’s elopement case.
Neelamma, a shopkeeper, told Express, “Lakshmidevi used to come my petty shop to buy provisions. Other villagers who come to my shop talked in hushed notes about the girl being killed and burnt and that the incident was hidden by the family and local police. When beat policeman came, he gathered this information.”
What is village beat policing
Beat policing system was introduced by the recently retired DG&IGP RK Dutta. Dutta had said that the village beat system, which was a game-changer in policing, placed the onus on constables in maintaining peace in the region assigned to them.