Medical evidence helps conclusively prove guilt of murder accused

Medical evidence in the form of an autopsy report concluding that the victim was strangled to death and did not commit suicide helped an additional district and sessions court in Mangaluru sentence a 64-year-old man to life imprisonment on Wednesday, after finding him guilty of murdering his wife.

The III Additional District and Sessions Judge S. Sandhya passed the orders of conviction and sentence against Raja, a resident of Andyadka, Thodikana village, Sullia taluk, for murdering his wife Kamala on September 6, 2022.

Autopsy report and evidence by Varsha Shetty, medical officer with Justice K.S. Hegde Academy of Medical Sciences, proved to be important in concluding the trial in the absence of eyewitnesses to the incident, public prosecutor B. Mohan Kumar said.

Conducting the prosecution, Mr. Kumar told the court that Raja was a habitual drinker and used to quarrel with his wife frequently. They joined as labourers for rubber tapping on the estae of one Dharnappa Gowda in Alekki, Koyyur in Belthangady taluk on September 4, 2022 and stayed in a shed inside the property. On September 6 night, Raja picked a quarrel with Kamala, hit her, and strangled the victim with a piece of lungi. Later, he hung the body to the ceiling portraying it to be a case of suicide.

Then Belthangady police sub inspector M.M. Nanda Kumar conducted the initial investigation while police inspector B. Shivakumar completed the probe and launched the prosecution. Dr. Varsha Shetty’s report that it was a case of strangulation and her oral evidence in the court conclusively proved the guilt of the accused, the prosecutor said.

The court directed the district legal services authority to pay just compensation to the three children of the couple.