Case cracked: Woman, paramour arrested for mother-in-law’s murder

The police who recorded the statements of Soundarya over the incident, grew suspicious of her role in the crime in which she is the only eyewitness.

BENGALURU: Byatarayanapura police probing the murder of 60-year-old Rajamma have cracked the case after finding out that it was the deceased woman’s daughter-in-law and her paramour who had “planned and killed the elderly woman”. The two were arrested on Monday. The accused are Soundarya (28) and Jadeswamy (32) who hails from Kollegal. A senior police officer said Rajamma was bludgeoned to death on February 18 and her son Kumar HB filed the case.

The police who recorded the statements of Soundarya over the incident, grew suspicious of her role in the crime in which she is the only eyewitness. The police found several gaping holes in her statements. Soundarya claimed that the “unidentified” killer caught her and attempted to drag her into a room, but she managed to free herself from him and escape from the house. She claimed that when she came back later, she found Rajamma lying in a pool of blood.

A gold necklace was reportedly missing from Rajamma’s person. Police found it strange that any unidentified man would merely enter a house and try to drag a woman into a bedroom without checking whether there was anybody else there. During investigations, the police found that Soundarya along Jadeswamy had hatched the murder plot as Rajamma kept questioning her about his presence in the house when her son was away, the officer said.

Soundarya confessed to the planning the crime committed by Jadeswamy, the officer said. The police said Rajamma had suspected that Soundarya had an affair with Jadeswamy. Soundarya had gone to her native Hassan for the delivery of her third child and had returned to the city just a week ago. Rajamma who had also noticed Soundarya talking with Jadeswamy over the phone had threatened her that she would reveal it to her son Kumar, who works in a private company as supervisor, the police officer added.

Kumar collapsed when police came to the house and detained Soundarya before explaining to him the motive behind the murder and that his wife had planned it with her paramour. He had not known about his wife’s affair with Jadeswamy. She called him home when Kumar went to bring a doctor to treat his mother’s illness. Soon after he had left home, Jadeswamy came at 4 pm and attacked Rajamma who was asleep.

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The New Indian Express
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