Bhaskar Shetty murder: Udupi court awards life sentence to wife, son and priest

UDUPI: The principal district and sessions court in Udupi held accused in the Bhaskar Shetty murder case guilty and awarded life sentence to three on Tuesday.
The court awarded life sentence to Rajeshwari Shetty, wife of Bhaskar Shetty, Navaneet Shetty, son, and priest/astrologer Niranjan Bhat.
The NRI businessman and hotelier Bhaskar Shetty, 52, a resident of Indrali in Udupi, was murdered brutally by his wife Rajeshwari along with their son Navaneet, priest/ astrologer Niranjan Bhat, his father Srinivas, who died when the trial was in progress, and Raghavendra, a driver, on July 28, 2016.
The court convicted Shetty’s wife, son and the astrologer in the morning and later awarded life sentence to them in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, Raghavendra has been acquitted.
While Rajeshwari had obtained bail, son Navaneet and astrologer Bhat are in jail.
The prosecution commenced the final arguments in the sensational murder case through senior counsel and Special Public Prosecutor M Shantharam Shetty.
Sessions judge Subramanya J N pronounced the final verdict.
It may be recalled that on July 29, 2016, Gulabi Shetty, mother of Shetty, tried to get in touch with her son over the phone and when there was no response she complained to Manipal Police that her son was missing.
The convicts had brutally murdered Bhaskar Shetty and burnt his body in a Homa Kunda at the residence of an astrologer.
Shetty’s bones were recovered from a river in Nandalike on August 10, 20216.