BENGALURU: ‘Kondhavaru Yaru’ campaign is demanding a thorough probe into unnatural deaths in Belthangady in Dakshina Kannada. Activists Madhu Bhushan and Jyothi K told TNSE that the families of the victims have been waiting for justice over the last four decades.
They said since 1979, there have been reports of missing and women found dead in Belthangady, Sullia, and surrounding taluks. Bodies of women were found in fields, forests, riversides and deserted lanes. Many were brutally assaulted, some strangled, others hacked to death.
Every time the police claimed “investigations are on,” but cases collapsed in court for lack of evidence. In 1979, the first wave of murders were reported and women were found dead in mysterious circumstances.
In 1986, serial killings linked to ritual practices surfaced; 17 women were reported murdered. Yet cases dragged without closure.
In 2012, a young woman was found murdered. A CID probe was ordered, but the accused walked free citing lack of evidence.
In 2016, protests in Belthangady demanded CBI inquiry. Five more women were reportedly targeted that year, but police denied any link.