BENGALURU: Love, marriage and, then, murder. The night duty personnel at the Surya City police station on the outskirts of Bengaluru were shocked when they saw a man approaching the station on a scooter with a woman’s severed head placed on the footrest and a machete next to it around 12.40 am on Saturday. It was a gruesome, bone-chilling sight.
The accused stopped the scooter nonchalantly at the station and told the cops that he beheaded his wife over an extramarital affair.
Shankar, a support staff in a private firm, had reportedly attacked his wife, Manasa (26), an employee at a factory in Bommanhalli industrial area, multiple times on the neck. The police said Manasa’s body was found lying in a pool of blood at their home. The incident took place near Heelalige in Anekal taluk. Manasa and Shankar had fallen in love and married five years ago. They lived in a rented house in Heelalige and have a four-year-old daughter.
According to the police, two days before the murder, Shankar caught Manasa with her paramour, leading to a heated argument. Following the quarrel, Manasa left for her mother’s house.
On Friday night, she returned home, hoping to reconcile and live with Shankar. Shankar, who was under the influence of alcohol, began to scold her, and an argument followed. In a fit of rage, Shankar picked up a machete from the house and beheaded her, in a bloody end to their love-hate story.
The police said that the couple used to quarrel frequently. According to the accused’s statement, Manasa had befriended a man named Mugilan at the factory where they both worked, and the friendship had developed into a relationship.Shankar claimed this extramarital affair was the reason for his crime. The accused was sent to judicial custody. A postmortem will be conducted within two days, added the police.
Speaking to reporters, Manasa’s mother said she was devastated on seeing her daughter’s decapitated body. She demanded justice for her daughter’s death.