In connection with the horrifying incident of the murder of a teenage girl, the Karnataka Police found the severed head of the minor girl on a mango tree on Saturday, May 11, in Kodagu district of the state. The victim, a 16-year-old girl, was murdered by the accused 32-year-old Prakash on Thursday, May 9 following the cancellation of their engagement. The gruesome incident took place in Surlabi near Kumabaragadige village in Kodagu district.
The accused had beheaded the victim and had escaped with her severed head to the forest. Earlier, there were reports that the accused dying by suicide by hanging after committing the crime. However, police said that the accused had not died by suicide and was arrested from Somwarpet town in Kodagu district.
“The accused was hiding in the forest,” the police said. The accused then led the police to the spot where he had kept the severed head of the girl after the preliminary investigation.
The accused told police that he was distraught after the cancellation of his engagement with the victim. He had confessed that he committed the crime after a heated argument with the girl in the forest.
The police said that the head was kept on the branch of a mango tree located 300 metres away from the spot, where he killed the girl. The dog squad and police personnel who had launched the search operation throughout the Friday, May 10, could not find the severed head.
The preliminary probe has revealed that the accused had pre-planned the murder. He had come to the residence of the girl and sent her two brothers to his village. Later, he barged inside the house when the girl was alone with her parents and committed the crime. Prakash also attacked the victim’s parents. The victim was celebrating the passing of her class 10th board exams before the tragedy struck.
Sources said the man was reportedly enraged after the two families mutually decided to postpone their marriage until the girl turned 18.
The engagement was put off after the intervention of the Women and Child Welfare Department on Thursday. After the development, there was a phone conversation between the victim and the accused. The victim had told the accused that she would not marry until she turned 18 years which enraged the accused.
Officials from the department had maintained that they obtained an undertaking from the victim's parents not to marry off their daughter until she turned 18. It received information about the engagement after getting a call on its helpline.