![[Bengaluru Double Murder Case] Innocent Couple Acquitted of Charges in Mandya Case](https://i0.wp.com/lawchakra.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/image-43.png?fit=620%2C441&ssl=1)
In the 2019 Karnataka double murder case, two couples in their 50s were killed in their homes three months apart. Initially, a couple was arrested for the first murder. However, they were acquitted after the actual perpetrator confessed to both crimes following the second murder.
Bengaluru: A thorough police investigation can not only solve a crime but also lead to the exoneration of innocent individuals. The unravelling of a double homicide case involving an elderly couple in Mahadevapura, Bengaluru, in October 2019, opened the door to the earlier murder of another elderly couple in Mandya, around 100 km away, three months prior.
This investigation also resulted in the release of a young couple who had been wrongly arrested for the Mandya crime.
The story behind these double murders of two elderly couples within a three-month span revolves around a 30-year-old cab driver and his wife, who struggling with debt. Allegedly, they targeted their wealthy distant relatives in an attempt to pay off their outstanding dues.
Read Also: 2017 Murder Case: Thane Court Acquits Two Accused
On July 18, 2019, a cook in Bengaluru named R.S. Kumar filed a police complaint after discovering the decomposing bodies of his brother Gundegowda, a 55-year-old farmer, and Gundegowda’s wife Lalithamma, 50, at their home in Rayasamudra village in Mandya.
Kumar received a phone call from his mother in Mandya around 7:30 pm on July 18. She informed him that she had visited Gundegowda’s house but found it locked, with a foul smell emanating from inside. Kumar immediately rushed to the village and, upon arrival that night, he removed the tiles from the roof of the house with the help of a few villagers. Peering inside, he discovered the lifeless bodies of his brother and sister-in-law.
Upon breaking open the door, the villagers and Kumar discovered the highly decomposed bodies of the elderly couple, with clear indications that the house had been ransacked. The cupboards left open, and the contents of the steel almirah had been scattered on the ground.
Subsequent investigations led the K.R. Pet town police to arrest two of the elderly couple’s neighbours, Yogesh Gowda, 33, and his wife Sujata, 32, who were agricultural workers in Rayasamudra. The police claimed that the couple killed the elderly pair due to a dispute between them.
Three months after the previous double murder, another elderly couple found dead in their Bengaluru home on October 17, 2019. Chandre Gowda, a 63-year-old retired private firm employee, and his 55-year-old wife Lakshmamma discovered deceased in their residence located in the Garudacharpalya area of Mahadevapura, on the eastern outskirts of Bengaluru.
A local shopkeeper who operated a small store in the building owned by the couple noticed that the water tank overflowing. When the shopkeeper tried calling out to the elderly pair with no response, he peered through a window and saw Chandre Gowda lying lifeless in the hall. Upon the police’s arrival and entry into the home, they found Lakshmamma deceased in a bedroom, with the entire house ransacked.
The police discovered that Chandre Gowda and Lakshmamma were killed by heavy blows to their heads with a blunt instrument. The investigation uncovered that the elderly couple had visitors the evening before the murder. Chandre Gowda had gone to the nearby corner store at dusk, carrying a young child, to buy a packet of biscuits for the infant.
When the shopkeeper inquired about the child, Chandre Gowda mentioned that the child belonged to some relatives who were visiting his home. Around 9:30 pm that same evening, the shopkeeper observed a young woman feeding the same child in front of the building.
Through technical analysis of phone usage and other leads, the police identified the visitors at Chandre Gowda’s home on the night of the murder as 31-year-old cab driver Venkatesh C H and his 21-year-old wife, Arpita.
The couple, who visited the elderly couple with their 18-month-old child, tracked down to a friend’s house in Mangalore on October 26 and subsequently arrested. Investigations revealed that Venkatesh and Arpita had met Chandre Gowda and Lakshmamma at a relative’s wedding in September 2019.
The police said in a statement following the suspects’ arrest in 2019,
“Lakshmamma is a distant relative of Venkatesh. He met them at a wedding in Mysuru a month earlier. After seeing her jewellery, Venkatesh and his wife decided to target the elderly couple,”
The young couple allegedly gained the elderly couple’s trust by visiting their home a few times after the Mysuru wedding. Then, on the evening of October 16, they visited again with their child to carry out the double murder and robbery.
The police investigation revealed that on October 16, 2019, at around 6:15 pm, the couple, along with their child, visited Chandre Gowda’s residence after parking their car near a prominent sports retail store in Mahadevapura, as captured by CCTV footage.
As per the police report, Venkatesh took a wheel spanner from his car, concealed in a bag, and headed towards the house. He instructed his wife to stay near the gate as a lookout while he entered the residence. Inside, he allegedly struck Lakshmamma with the wheel spanner, killing her, after discovering that her husband was out for a walk. When Chandre Gowda returned, he was also killed, according to the police.
The assailants ransacked the house, stealing 333 grams of gold jewellery, 1,240.8 grams of silver items, and Rs 9,500 in cash.
The following day, on October 17, the couple sold the stolen gold to a jewellery store in Bengaluru for Rs 8.6 lakh. Subsequently, they fled to a friend’s house in a village in Dakshina Kannada.
Venkatesh, who accused of orchestrating and carrying out the double murder, purchased a car through a loan and registered it with a popular app-based cab service. However, he accumulated debts exceeding Rs 10 lakh and turned to crime to repay his loans, according to the investigation.
A confession sheds light on another double murder During the interrogation of Venkatesh and his wife Arpita, who were married in 2016, the probe into the Bengaluru twin murder took an unexpected turn when Venkatesh allegedly confessed to planning the Mahadevapura murders after successfully evading detection for a similar crime committed in Mandya three months prior.
The Mahadevapura police stated,
“Venkatesh revealed that he had committed a similar crime in Rayasamudra village, K R Pet taluk, Mandya district, in July 2019. Investigations uncovered that an elderly couple, Gundegowda, 55, and his wife Lalithamma, 50, were murdered in a similar manner by Venkatesh on the night of July 12, 2019,”
The Bengaluru police discovered that Venkatesh carried out the Mandya double murder while staying overnight at the elderly couple’s home on July 12, 2019, as Lalithamma ,his distant relative. Following the murder, he allegedly stole 60 grams of gold and sold it for Rs 1.8 lakh to a jeweller in Bengaluru through his wife.
The police in October 2019 stated ,
“Analysis of the cell phone data of the cab driver substantiates his presence in Rayasamudra village region at the time of the double murder, and there is also evidence from the jeweller to whom the stolen gold was sold in Bengaluru, corroborating their role in the July murder,”
In light of the findings from the investigation into the twin murder in Bengaluru, the Mandya murder case re-examined, leading to the acquittal of Yogesh Gowda and his wife Sujata by a local court in Mandya.
The probe in Mandya revealed that Venkatesh targeted wealthy relatives living alone after incurring substantial debts. He learned about his distant relative Lalithamma’s wealth, childless status, and solitary living situation with her husband in Rayasamudra. On the night of July 12, 2019, he allegedly visited their home, claiming his car had broken down and that he needed a place to stay for the night. During the night, he purportedly attacked and killed the unsuspecting couple before fleeing with their gold and jewellery.
A sessions court observed while rejecting Venkatesh’s bail plea last year,
“The investigating officer’s report indicates that, driven by greed for money and jewelry, the petitioner (Venkatesh) killed Gundegowda and Lalithamma and pledged the ornaments through his wife Arpitha,”
The two double murder cases in Bengaluru and Mandya currently under trial. Venkatesh remains in prison, with his bail pleas rejected multiple times by the courts. His wife, Arpita, granted bail in the Mandya case but denied bail in the Bengaluru case.
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