Mangaluru, Apr 1: Nearly six years after a three-year-old girl was murdered in a black magic ritual in the city, a District and Sessions Court has sentenced an elderly man and his suspected foster daughter to life imprisonment.
Pronouncing the order Bhavani Nerale Veerabhadraiah, the judge of IV Additional District and Sessions court, Mangaluru, sentenced Kamalaksha Purusha (79) and Chandrakala (33), both residents of Kampadakody near Yeyyadi, here. The convicts were also sentenced to three years imprisonment for the offence of destroying evidence.
On December 17, 2010, the body of Priyanka, daughter of Firan Kumar Jha and Anjali Devi, a poor couple, was found with burns in the areca-nut garden of Kamalaksha Purusha at Yeyyadi. The girl had gone missing since December 16 afternoon from her parents' rented residence owned by Kamalaksha Purusha's brother.
Chandrakala had befriended Priyanka and used to take the girl to her residence in the neighbourhood frequently. Jha, a native of Madhubani district in Bihar, worked with an electronics retailer in Bengaluru for over two decades before being sent to the retailer's Mangaluru showroom.
After Chandrakala took Priyanka home in the afternoon of December 16, 2010, the girl did not return and a search launched by her parents was futile. The next day, the girl's body was found in the plantation of Kamalaksha Purusha. The post-mortem report said that the child was strangled to death after she had been doused with boiling water.
Though there was no eyewitness to the incident, neighbours told the police that the family of Kamalaksha Purusha was engaged in sorcery for materialistic gains. There were people who had seen Chandrakala taking the girl to her house, they said.
Prosecutors Harishchandra Udyawar and Pushparaj Adyantaya examined 18 witnesses during trial. While the then Mangaluru East Police Inspector Niranjan Urs initially investigated the case, Assistant Commissioner of Police Raveendra K. Gadadi filed the charge sheet before court.
Considering the circumstantial evidence, the judge convicted the two for offences under Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destroying of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code. While Kamalaksha Purusha was directed to pay fine of Rs. 60,000, Chandrakala was asked to pay Rs. 20,000 for the two offences.
A sum of Rs. 10,000 out of the total fine has to be paid to the government while the balance is to be paid to the deceased girl's parents. The court has also directed the District Legal Services Authority to pay compensation under the Karnataka Victim Compensation Scheme to the parents.
The then Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa had released Rs. 2 lakh compensation to the family of Priyanka through the district administration.
The student-activist, who was allowed to talk on stage, suddenly raised pro-Pakistan slogans. She was arrested by police after All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi snatched her mike.
Comments
Stone to death. please
Instead of making un necessary issues like Bharath Maathaa Ki Jai., RSS should concentrate to address the people to come out from these types of ugly practice in the community.
real terror.
This is ridiculous,..murderers should be murdered as same like they killed that innocent girl.
who knows this may not be the first time they killed, which has came to light.
Ghostly act by these two, dont want to c their face , coastaldiget please blur their face, felt like watching some horror movie.
Planet SKS land belongs to him, builder succeed.
syco path in mangalore, both should be hanged.
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