In a strange turn of events, a man, who was believed to have been charred to death, returned home after eight months.
The case took an interesting turn, as what was initially suspected to be an accidental death after a charred body was found at the NWKRTC bus depot in Haveri district’s Ranebennuru, turned out to be a murder case.
According to Times of India, Ningaraj Belagutti, who was thought to have been charred to death in a fire, turned out to be his uncle's murderer.
Police said that upon interrogation, Ningaraj confessed to having killed his uncle when he came back home on Sunday.
Ningaraj, who was a security guard at the Ranebennuru bus depot, on Sunday, appeared before the police and admitted to have killed his uncle Channappa at midnight on December 31, 2016.
A charred body of an unidentified person was found completely gutted in a bus fire that night and everyone believed that Ningaraj had been killed in the unfortunate incident.
However, the Ranebennur Police received the DNS report from the Forensic Science Laboratory in Bengaluru of the body four days ago and it did not match the sample provided by Ningaraj’s mother.
The police suspected something amiss and continued further investigation.
However, Ningaraj himself re-appeared after eight months and admitted to have set afire the bus in which he put his uncle’s body after murdering him over personal reasons.
Haveri Superintendent of Police K Parashuram told the media on Tuesday about Ningaraj's confession.
“According to the confession, Channappa allegedly had an illicit relationship with one of Ningaraj’s relatives and also allegedly misbehaved with his wife. Enraged by this, Ningaraj had killed Channappa. After the bus fire, he stayed in Siddaroodha Mutt in Hubballi and later went to Goa and then to Mumbai. He returned to Haveri as he felt like meeting his children,” the SP said.
As Channappa was a bachelor, no one had registered a missing person complaint. “We will question the accused's wife Nirmala, his mother Nilamma and other relatives in Harihar. A case will be registered against his relatives if we find they were involved in the case. A murder case had been registered against Ningaraj and he will be produced before the sessions court on Wednesday,” the SP added.