Gram panchayat member gets husband killed and stages suicide, arrested

RAMANAGARA: A gram panchayat member has been arrested for allegedly plotting her husband’s murder along with her paramour and making it look like a suicide. The accused is Chandrakala and the M K Doddi police are on the lookout for the others involved in the case.

On June 24, Lokesh (45), who was a former president of the Makali gram panchayat, was found dead next his parked car near Krishnapura Doddi village. A bottle of poison was found next to the body, leading to suspicion that he may have committed suicide.

His wife Chandrakala, who is a gram panchayat member, had raised suspicions about Lokesh’s death. But during investigation, her call records revealed that she was in constant touch with Yogesh, her paramour. As Lokesh was opposed to the relationship, Chandrakala and Yogesh plotted to eliminate him and hired a few men from Bengaluru to carry out the act, police said.

Mandya Police Superintendent Srinivas Gowda said, “The murder was staged like a suicide and we had registered a case of unnatural death. During the court of investigation over the last three weeks, we got some leads and it was established that the deceased wife had given supari to eliminate him”.

The case has now been registered for murder and the accused remanded to judicial custody. “We will soon arrest those who carried out the murder. Preliminary investigation has revealed that Chandrakala paid Rs 3.5 lakh to the killers”, the SP added.