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To avenge his daughter’s death, Mandya man murders ‘killer’s father’ after a year
The police said the accused was planning to kill Nitish who allegedly murdered his daughter Deepika, a teacher, in Mandya last year.
The accused as Venkatesh, 56, (left) and the deceased Narasimhe Gowda, 53 (right).
Over a year after the murder of his daughter, a man in Karnataka’s Mandya district murdered the alleged killer’s father on Tuesday as he prepared to celebrate his daughter’s wedding.
The police identified the deceased as Narasimhe Gowda, 53, and the accused as Venkatesh, 56, both residents of Manikyanahalli in Pandavapura taluk. Officers said Venkatesh stabbed Gowda at around 8 am while he was sipping tea at a shop in the village.
According to the police, Venkatesh’s daughter Deepika V Lokesh, 28, had gone missing in January last year, following which a complaint was filed at Melukote police station. The probe revealed that Gowda’s son Nitish had murdered Deepika in the foothills of Melukote.
An officer said, “Nitish was arrested and sent to jail. The murder, however, devastated Deepika’s father Venkatesh. Meanwhile, Nitish came out on bail as preparations were going on for his sister’s wedding in Dharmasthala.”
Venkatesh was planning to kill Nitish but after coming out on bail, he stayed away from the village, the police said. After he got to know about the marriage, Venkatesh decided to kill Gowda instead to avenge his daughter’s death.
On Tuesday, he stabbed Gowda in public and was arrested within the next couple of hours.
Expressing his anger at the murder, Nitish said, “I was the prime target but they killed my father. The court will decide whether I killed Deepika. I have not killed (her). They had issued death threats to me. They killed my father just because they did not get me. My elder sister’s marriage was scheduled.”
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“My father was a farmer and went out to meet people for one or two hours a day. He was killed for no reason. I need justice,” he added.
Deepika’s murder
Venkatesh’s daughter Deepika V Lokesh, a teacher, was married to Lokesh. They had a son who is nine years old now.
The investigation into her death revealed that she had an affair with her friend Nitish who was 22 years old at the time. The relationship went on for a couple of years but she stopped contacting him following a rift. The probe revealed that the strain in their relationship led to the killing.
Meanwhile, Lokesh, who came to know about the affair, had also warned Nitish against getting in touch with Deepika.
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On January 20 last year, Nitish allegedly called Deepika near Melukote hills to celebrate his birthday. On arriving, Deepika is learnt to have told him that she would not meet him again. Upset over this, Nitish killed her and buried the body, the police said. He initially remained in the town, but fled after her body was discovered.
He was arrested later near Hospet in Vijayanagar district and charged with murder. The case in currently in the trial stage.
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