Tension prevailed in Kodagu district's Halekudige village on Monday as residents demanded that the police arrest a mother-daughter duo for allegedly murdering a relative. Yashodha (42) and her daughter Harini (20) were eventually arrested for the murder of Shiva (38), who was found dead on Sunday evening. Shiva is Yashodha’s brother-in-law and they were living in the same house.
An investigating officer told TNM that Yashodha and Harini had stashed Shiva's body under the bed.
“One of Yashodha's neighbours, Mithun, called the police station and said that there is suspicious activity in the house and that he heard sounds of a person screaming and struggling. By the time we reached the spot, a lot of neighbours and Shiva's relatives had gathered outside the house and were demanding that the door be opened. When we went in, we found the body under the bed," the officer said.
On Monday, relatives threw stones at the home and demanded that both mother and daughter be handed over to them. They were also ready to beat up Yashoda and Harini, a police official in Kushalnagar Rural police station told TNM.
“We arrested both Yashodha and Harini and we determined that both of them attacked Shiva with the lamp over a financial dispute. It was related to an undisclosed amount of money held by another aunt who was not present in the house at the time of the murder. We are currently investigating this,” said the police official. The police will question the aunt allegedly involved in the financial dispute.
The murder occurred at 6:30 pm on Sunday and according to sources close to the family, Yashoda and Shiva got into a fight over a sum of Rs 1 lakh. Shiva had asked for a sum of Rs 1 lakh that Yashodha owed him to be returned. After this, he was allegedly assaulted with a lamp by Yashodha, investigating officials said. Shiva worked in a coffee depot near Kudige and was unmarried.