Solving Crime: How a mismatched answer from men in autorickshaw helped unmask murder during Karnataka’s Banashankari festival   | Bangalore News

Twelve years ago, on the night of the Banashankari festival in Karnataka’s Badami, two men sitting inside a parked autorickshaw at 4 am gave mismatched answers to a patrolling team’s routine questions. That was enough to bring them to the police station. Hours later, news came in of a gruesome murder nearby, and the police realised with shock — the suspects were already in their custody.

Badami, once the capital of the erstwhile Chalukya dynasty, houses rock-cut cave temples carved into red sandstone cliffs and is considered to be one of the wonders of India. The town is known for the Banashankari Amma festival — one of the biggest fairs in the state with nearly 30-40 lakh devotees attending it. During that time, the police force from at least 3-4 districts is deployed, as it is the season when pickpockets and thieves from Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and other parts of Karnataka come to make quick bucks.

During the festival season in 2013, the night patrolling police team spotted two men — identified as Gangadhara and Shafi Abdul Munaf Takalli — sitting inside an autorickshaw around 4 am on November 19.

Nagaraj K, Badami Station House Officer (SHO), recalled that the men had parked the autorickshaw a little outside the town, and they were questioned normally.

“Police constables Yamanappa Itagi and Somayya Mannur were on duty. Usually, during the Banashankari Badami fair. Whenever we find any suspicious movement, we often question the suspects and let them off once we get clarity. But in this specific incident, Gangadhara and Shafi gave different answers to the same question. It made us bring them to the Kulageri police station to inquire about a background check,” he said.

One of them said that they were visiting the temple and were waiting for it to open, but the other one said that they were waiting for friends. It was enough for the police to suspect something was fishy.

One of the police constables sat in the autorickshaw and asked him to take him to the police station. Upon reaching, they took the men inside the station and checked their contact numbers and addresses on their mobile phones.

Murder of an elderly woman who lived alone

Story continues below this ad

Shivaputrappa AB, who had completed one year as a police inspector and in his first stint as head of a circle, was about to sleep after finishing his night shift duty when he got a call from T L Veerappa, then police sub-inspector at Badami police station. Veerappa passed him a message that there was a murder of an elderly woman in his limits.

Sumithra alias Sumithramma, a woman in her 50s, had lost her husband and did not have any children. She was living alone for many years at Kulageri Cross. Shivaputrappa told The Indian Express, “It was a gruesome murder. When I visited the spot, it looked like someone out of revenge had killed her. There were stab wounds on the chest, stomach, wrist, neck, and many other parts of the body.”

But the crime scene told a different tale. The house was ransacked, and the valuables were taken away from the almirah. Two gold necklaces, one gold ring, and other things were missing.

With no CCTV cameras, the police then started to inquire with the neighbours, who said that she had some visitors to the house, a day before the incident, and there was nothing suspicious at that point.

Mobile phone tower locations play spoilsport 

Story continues below this ad

The police approached the district unit to check for the active mobile numbers in the location between 6 pm on November 18 and 6 am on November 19. They started to filter the numbers and found out that some phones were active for a few hours before leaving the location.

Shivaputrappa said, “A couple of active numbers were found to be of the people who were detained at Kulageri police station. It was a great breakthrough. What was surprising is that even before we came to know about the crime, the suspects were already detained.”

Then, the Badami police took Gangadhara and Takalli into custody. When interrogated, they confessed to murdering Sumithramma and said that the mastermind was her relative.

The accused spilled some names — Kiran Kumar, 20, a driver, Mahammad Yakub, 20, a driver, and Mujafar, 21, a labourer. As investigations progressed, the police found out that Kiran was Sumithra’s nephew. Shivaputrappa says, “Kiran is the son of Sumithra’s younger sister, and she treated him like a son. He visited her house whenever he travelled to Badami.”

Nephew caught red-handed

Story continues below this ad

Upon learning about the involvement of Kiran and two others, a police officer made Gangadhara call Kiran in order to share the stolen ornaments. Unaware that Gangadhara was caught, Kiran came to meet him, and the police caught him red-handed.

During questioning, Kiran confessed to the crime but also told how he had executed it. Shivaputrappa said, “On November 12, 2013, Kiran and his friends arrived at Sumithramma’s residence in an autorickshaw. Kiran, who was aware that Sumithramma was getting a pension and had some gold ornaments, masterminded the murder and robbery.”

Highly hospitable aunt

Sumithramma, meanwhile, was highly hospitable towards her nephew and his friends who had come for the Banashankari fair, prepared special food for them, and allowed them to sleep at her house. “Around 12.30 am, Kiran, Yakub, and Mujafar sneaked into Sumithramma’s room and smothered her to death while she was asleep and stabbed her multiple times before fleeing from the spot. It was such a gruesome murder as the knife was still stuck to Sumithramma’s stomach in the morning,” Shivaputrappa said.

No eyewitness but 23 witnesses – A tale of conviction

In 2014, the police filed the chargesheet against five accused in the murder case, making Kiran Kumar the prime accused. While there were no eyewitnesses to the case, the police filed a chargesheet naming 23 witnesses. The court document reveals that the phone call records became a critical corroboration of the evidence, as the mobile tower location of Kiran matched Sumithramma’s residence. However, Kiran claimed that he was at the Badami temple at the time of the murder. Also, Sumithramma’s clothes, which had blood stains of Kiran, made it clear when forensic evidence indicated the presence of Kiran and others. Besides, Sumithramma’s blood stains were found on the accused’s clothes.

Story continues below this ad

On November 28, 2017, the principal district and sessions court in Bagalkot convicted Kiran (accused-1), Yakub (accused-2), and Mujafar (accused-3) for life imprisonment and acquitted Gangadharan (accused-4) and Shafi (accused-5). Judge Anil B Katti said, “The court, while imposing the sentence, will have to take into account the aggravating circumstances; it should not overlook or ignore the mitigating circumstances. The manner in which the crime was committed, the weapons used and the brutality or the lack of it are some of the considerations that must be borne in mind. The court must strike a balance between aggravating and mitigating circumstances while imposing the sentence. This court has recorded a finding that accused No. 1 to 3 have committed robbery and murder of deceased Sumitramma based on the circumstantial evidence.”

The judgment stated that the prosecution has proved that the accused No 1 to 3 have committed robbery and murder of Sumitramma by stabbing her abdomen and robbed her of her gold ornaments.

However, the court, while acquitting accused No 4 and 5 observed that mere presence in the autorickshaw at odd hours was insufficient to establish common intention. There was no evidence they knew of or participated in planning the murder and robbery.

Escape from prison

Following the conviction, the three were sent to Vijayapura Central Prison in 2017 from the Bagalkot prisons. On August 11, 2023, Kiran came out on 13 days’ parole and was supposed to report on August 23. He had come out seeking permission to attend his sister’s marriage. But he never returned and was missing for more than 2 years and 10 months.

Story continues below this ad

The prison department officials then filed a complaint at Adarsha Nagar police station seeking help to trace Kiran. However, the police then searched for him for a while but could not trace him. Recently, Vijayapura district SP Laxman Nimbargi formed special teams to clear the pending cases, and the absconding of Kiran was one among them.

Adarsha Nagar police sub-inspector Seetharam Lamani and his team tried to trace Kiran, but went in vain. A police officer said that the other convicts, family members, and known friends were contacted and tracked. “We eventually found that Kiran had married a woman in 20 years and was working in a factory in an industrial area in Mysuru. His wife was unaware of the murder he had committed, and we arrested him on April 8,” the officer said.