Even as letters poured in from various corners, including the offices of the President and Prime Minister, seeking to change the investigating officer in a case pertaining to the murder of a soldier’s mother, the officer in question firmly stood his ground. The perseverance of Suresh P – the then police inspector of Shanthigrama in Karnataka’s Hassan district – eventually paid off, not only leading him to the actual killer, but also preventing the false arrest of a person who initially appeared to be the culprit. In fact, Suresh went on to win the Union Home Minister's Medal for Excellence in Investigation for this very case. The incident dates back to July 20, 2022 when Rathnamma, 50, the mother of an Army soldier, went missing from near her residence in Narayanapura village, Hassan. The woman, who was married to Govindegowda, went out to graze her cattle but did not return. The next day, her brother Anne Gowda filed a missing complaint with the police. While the investigators failed to track her down, nearly two months later, the police found a skeleton and some clothes in a corn field near Narayanapura on September 12. The clothes indicated that the remains belonged to Rathnamma, but her gold ornaments were missing. The police, however, found a towel at the spot which was later traced to one Mahesh who lived in a neighbouring village. At this point, Govindegowda filed another complaint expressing suspicion over Mahesh's role in her death. While the police collected the bones, hair and clothes and sent them to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), they also detained Mahesh. During the interrogation, Suresh, however, felt that Mahesh was not the murderer, he says. Mobile tower location details showed that at the time of the murder, Mahesh's phone was nowhere close to the corn field where the missing woman's remains were found. Meanwhile, the police faced pressure from various quarters to arrest Mahesh. Speaking to The Indian Express, Suresh – who currently works at the RMC Yard police station in Bengaluru – says, "Rathnamma’s son Rakesh had submitted a petition, through the Army chief, to the Honourable President, Prime Minister, Defence Minister, Chief Minister, Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, and the Hassan Deputy Commissioner, accusing the police of delaying Mahesh’s arrest and saying that they were sceptical about the investigation. There were protests seeking to change the investigating officer. The people suspected me, thinking that I was helping the accused." As no arrests were made, the case appeared to be undergoing various “twists” with each passing day as the public raised several suspicions. "At one point, under the influence of alcohol, Mahesh told someone that he would reveal the murderer's name if they pay him Rs 20,000. We had to make him undergo a polygraph (lie detection) test," Suresh recalls. Despite the lack of a proper headway, Suresh and his team continued the probe. Of the several people who were subjected to questioning, one Madhuraj G N was interrogated twice. "We found the mobile phones that were active in that corn field area on July 20 and questioned those people." “Though there were no leads till September 21, further investigation revealed that Madhuraj had received two incoming messages from financing firm IIFL on July 20. We checked with the company which said that he had pledged gold and had taken Rs 1,08,000 money in cash,” Suresh adds. This came as a major revelation to the police, proving to be the turning point they were looking for. From then, it did not take long for things to unravel. When the police took Madhuraj into custody and questioned him about the gold, he confessed to the murder, says Suresh. As it turned out, Madhuraj had called Rathnamma on July 20, luring her with the promise of low-cost liquor. He then strangled her to death, took away her gold ornaments, sold them for Rs 1,05,000 and used the money to take back his mother’s jewels which had been pledged. Next, he spread the false news that Mahesh was the suspect in Rathnamma's murder. Mahesh, who was addicted to gambling, had also pledged his mother's gold ornaments and was under pressure from his family to get it back. Elated after the government recognised his efforts with the coveted medal, Suresh says, "There was intense pressure to arrest Mahesh. At one point, some people I know advised me to arrest him rather than taking the pressure, but I stuck to my investigation. I am happy that I did my work honestly and was able to arrest the real culprit." The police later filed a chargesheet and the case is now awaiting trial.
