Every Crime Has A Clue
In a village on the border of the state, 52-year-old Rangappa lived with his 45-year-old wife Mariamma and only daughter Shobha. He had 5 acres of Khushti land, he cultivated it during the rainy season and worked as a laborer during the rest of the time. When Shobha was 10 years old, Mariamma succumbed to some disease and died. Rangappa's family forced him to get another marriage as soon as he needed a mother to raise his daughter. So Rangappa married to neighbors village woman Kamala who was 30 years old, and this was her first marriage. Kamala was intimate with her husband and was taking good care of her stepdaughter. After two years of marriage, Kamala developed a friendship with Prakash from a neighboring farm. Prakash’s wife quarreled with him and went to her mother’s home, so he was alone. Kamala and Prakash had an immoral relationship. Both started meeting secretly in different places. One afternoon when Rangappa was not in town, Prakash came to Kamala's house. Kamala was alone in the house as Shobha had gone to school and invited him to have sex with her. Kamala had not secured the door of her house because no one would come home at that time. However, the teacher did not come to the school that day, so Shobha class ended early. She came home from school and came straight inside because Kamala didn't lock the front door. She was shocked to find her stepmother sleeping with a man and ran away to her nearby friend's house in the same village.
That moment Kamala was worried as she sent Prakash home as soon as possible. After dark, When Shobha returns home Kamala amused in many ways. Kamala requested, not to tell her father or anyone else what you saw. Shobha, who was 13 years old at the time, told to her stepmother to keep secret Kamala has to pay money when ever Shobha asks, Kamala agreed. In the following days, Shobha started asking her stepmother for Rs. 100/- or 200/- She used to threaten that if you don't pay, or if you pay less, she will reveal the secret. One day Shobha got angry with her stepmother for some reason and said, 'I will inform father about your relationship with Prakash. Scared, Kamala consoled her by giving her more money than usual. Tired of being on the blackmail repeatedly, Kamala discussed the issue with Prakash. He said, “You have only one choice, either to finish your daughter or to run away from your husband. But, if you run away, you cannot stay in my house. I can't even keep you in another house said Prakash.
So Kamala reasoned that killing Shobha was the only option for her and started thinking about how to kill Shobha. After a few days, when Shobha asked for money, Kamala said that she did not have that much. Enraged by this, Shobha informs Rangappa about Kamala and Prakash's affair that night. Rangappa beat his wife. “I will leave Prakash from tomorrow itself. Forgive me this one time,' Kamala fell at her husband's feet and requested him to forgive her mistake. He forgave his wife. Kamala stayed away from Prakash for some time. But, she could not let him go. One day when Kamala secretly meets Prakash, she reveals that she has decided to kill Shobha immediately. Prakash asks for some time to think about this, saying that if Shobha is killed, everyone will suspect you, so you should make a proper plan. Kamala agreed. One early morning, the town's rural police station received a notice of a medico-legal case from a local government hospital. A 13-year-old girl was admitted to the hospital after being bitten by a snake, which was reported to be unconscious but serious. As the number of cases of snakebite in that area was high, the station officer decided that only if the girl died, he would go to the hospital and register a case of unnatural death. Two days later the snake bitten girl died without responding to treatment.
The police went to the hospital and reported a case and performed mahazar on the dead girl's body. There was no injury on the body. Also, there were no suspicious traces. The body was sent for post-mortem examination. The parents of the deceased said that their daughter was bitten by a cobra while she was picking weeds in the garden in the evening. The doctor who conducted the postmortem examination preserved the fluid and blood in the girl's stomach and sent it to the forensic laboratory for chemical testing. After a month, the laboratory reported that there was chemical poison in the girl's stomach. The police called Rangappa and Kamala to the police station to ask if the girl had drunk poison to commit suicide, why did her parents lie that she was bitten by a snake. Unable to withstand the intense interrogation of the police, Kamala said before them:
When Shobha started blackmailing her about Kamala's immoral relationship, she decided to kill her and went to Prakash. If they kill her, Rangappa will blame us, so we have to shut his mouth first,' said Prakash. As per his instruction they both made Rangappa to drink more alcohol one night. He slept drunk. Kamala didn't sleep next to him that night as she used to sleep next to him every day. Instead, she woke up Shobha who was sleeping and asked her to sleep next to her father. She was half asleep and slept next to her father without speaking. Kamala slept elsewhere. In the middle of the night, Rangappa, who was half drunk, mistook Shobha as Kamala and went to have sex with her, when Shobha woke up and started screaming loudly. Waiting for the same time, Kamala threatened him that I will file a complaint in the police station that you have raped your daughter. He was so scared that Shobha and Kamala will report a complaint against him. Rangappa requested them not to give complaint against him the next morning. Shobha left for school without saying anything. Then Kamala told Rangappa that she will not complain if he let the relationship continue without raising a dispute about her and Prakash immoral relationship. But when Rangappa asked what to do with Shobha's complaint, Kamala suggested to him that we should finish her off. He agreed. That night Prakash brought a sterilizer and gave it to Kamala. She mixed it in the millet lump that Shoba used to eat, Shobha started vomiting after eating the lump. They admitted her to the hospital and lied that she was bitten by a snake.
After this statement, the police registered a case of conspiracy and murder. They confiscated the poison that Shobha had drunk from Rangappa's house. After further investigation, police filed a chargesheet against Kamala, Prakash and Rangappa. The judge sentenced Rangappa and Kamala to life imprisonment and five years to Prakash based on the case rested on circumstantial evidence alone.(1)
In the above case Kamala was second wife to Rangappa, she was attracted to Prakash may be by situational factors, lack of love for primary partner and desire for sexual variety. And when her step daughter got to know her immoral relationship with Prakash and she pleased Shobha when ever Shobha asked for money. When Kamala got annoyed by shobha's blackmail, Kamala planned to finish her life. Kamala don't even want to loose her husband as well as her affair with Prakash so she planned well and executed her plan and killed Shobha with her father Rangappa's help. It's easy to fall back on old situations that men are more likely to cheat. But now in this new generation we can see that there are women and men are cheating at similar rates. And the current generation of men and women have similar reason for cheating in relationship. Humans does mistakes but they should correct it when opposite person forgive their mistake and should be grateful to that person. As Kamala didn't correct her behavior, instead she was ready to take revenge, which lead to a prison. If Kamala was not happy with her husband she could have left Rangappa and Shobha and go live with her boyfriend Prakash. At-least she could have not destroyed the life of Shobha, Rangappa, Prakash and herself.
Reference
1] Dr.D.V Guruprasad, 2023 July 09, “ಕೃತ್ರಿಮ ಮಾತಾಪಿತರು”, A Kshana, Vijayavani, Bengaluru, Page No-4
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