The district and sessions court in Chitradurga awarded lifetime imprisonment to a man convicted of murdering his wife, just 11 days after the offence was committed. Police officials in Chitradurga revealed that they were able to crack the case swiftly after the couple’s son Girish deposed against his father.
Parameshwaraswamy (75), a resident of Valase in Challakere taluk of Chitradurga, was accused of bludgeoning his wife Puttamma (63) to death at around 3 pm on June 27. Police in Challakere moved swiftly to arrest the suspect the same day.
“We took it up as a challenge to arrest the suspect quickly and ensure justice. When we heard the news of the murder, we spoke to the village panchayat and those close to the family, and realised that Parameshwaraswamy was a suspect,” said Srinath M Joshi, Superintendent of Police (SP), Chitradurga.
The police swung into action based on the case registered by the victim’s brother Nagbhushan, but the SP revealed that the inputs of the couple’s son was crucial to the police arresting the suspect and processing the case in quick time.
“We had submitted 30 witnesses in the charge sheet and the court examined around 17 witnesses, including Girish, the son of the couple,” Srinath added.
The forensic and post-mortem reports were produced within two days before the court and the case was taken up for trial on July 3 by Principal district and sessions judge SB Vastramutt.
“Girish informed us that Parameshwaraswamy would regularly accuse his wife of having affairs with other people in the village. He had a history of picking fights with her and was constantly fighting with her in the days leading up to the incident. Girish did not hesitate to depose against his father,” Srinath said.
The judge dictated the 50-page order on Saturday. “We don’t know if this is a record but we hope to depose all cases as quickly as this,” Srinath said.