Man murders sister-in-law over Rs 50,000 loan, arrested from Maharashtra

CHIKKODI: Thirteen days after a nine-month pregnant woman was brutally murdered with sharp weapons, the police have arrested her brother-in-law from Miraj in Maharashtra where he was hiding. The accused in Ayyappa Rachaiah Matapathi.

On December 20, Suvarna Mantaiah Matapathi (33), a resident of Chikkuda village in Athani taluk,who was nine months pregnant, was brutally hacked to death and even slashed in the stomach, killing her and the baby in her womb. Rachaiah had killed her as she had sought return of a Rs 50,000 loan she had given him, police said.

Suvarna had lent Rs 50,000 to Rachaiah, her elder sister’s husband, a few months. Recently, she sought return of the loan citing expenses towards her delivery. Rachaiah, who was already neck deep in debt, having borrowd Rs 7 lakh, hatched a plan to eliminate Suvarna so that he won’t have to repay her. Accordingly, he came all the way from Terdal in Bagalkot taluk to Chikkuda village and murdered Suvarna, Belagavi SP Bhimashankar Guled said.

Rachaiah fled from the village and even kept away from Suvarna’s last rites. In the meantime, his wife too started distancing herself from him. Noticing this, the police started suspecting Rachaiah and launched a search for him. Rachaiah had been moving from town to town and the police finally arrested him from Miraj. Upon questioning, he admitted to the crime, the SP said.