Karnataka woman killed by father, cousin brothers over inter-caste relationship

According to Ramanagara district police, Hemalatha (19), who belonged to the upper caste Vokkaliga community and was a resident of Bettadahalli village in Magadi Taluk, was in a relationship with Puneeth, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste.

On October 9, police said, Krishnappa had filed a complaint over his missing daughter who was a B.Com student. The woman’s body was found in a farm belonging to Krishnappa’s brother on the following day.

“The trio had planned the murder well to confuse the police. On October 8, all three of them killed Hemalatha and buried her body in the farm. The next day, Krishnappa lodged a missing complaint with the police,” Inspector General of Police (Central Range) Seemant Kumar Singh told indianexpress.com

However, Hemalatha’s family members took to social media to claim that she was allegedly gangraped and killed by Puneeth and his friends.

“We formed a 21-member police team to investigate what happened. On October 10, the body was found and the last rites were performed in front of the family. Hemalatha’s parents were not seen grieving. Her father came to the police station only 24 hours later to file a missing complaint. We later found it to be a case of honour killing case,” Ramangara SP Girish said.