An 18-year-old woman from Bettahalli village, which is on the western outskirts of Bengaluru city, was found dead in a mango grove on Sunday, three days after she was reported missing. Ramanagara district police said her body was found in a decomposed state and they suspect she was murdered. The woman’s body was found lying in an open pit, which was dug for planting mango tree.
Her family members said she went missing after 2 pm on Thursday. After her body was found on Sunday, the neighbours called the police. Her body was shifted to the hospital.
While the post-mortem report is awaited, the forensic experts and sniffer dogs were sent to the spot and the police are investigating what led to her death. They are also probing if the victim was sexually assaulted. So far, the police have registered a case of murder and destruction of evidence.
According to reports, the victim, who was a college student, was the only child of the farmer family. While family members and neighbours searched for the woman after she went missing, their efforts were in vain. The father then filed a complaint with the jurisdictional Kudur police station and named one Puneeth as a suspect. He was subsequently detained by the police.
Speaking to The Times of India, one officer connected to the probe said that Puneeth was in contact with the woman for the last few months and the father suspected his role behind his daughter’s disappearance.
TOI reported that while the father was searching for his daughter in one of the mango groves, he was called by Puneeth’s mother, who asked him to give up the search. She claimed that she was “possessed by god” and that the victim would return soon after getting married.
However, he did not pay heed to Puneeth’s mother and continued his search for his daughter.