Judge reprimands police for shoddy probe against innocent tribal

The 5th Additional District and Sessions Judge in Mysuru reprimanded the police for their shoddy investigation in the sensational case involving a tribal, who had been jailed for “murder” of his wife, who was later found living with her male friend.

The judge Gururaj Somakkalavar, who had sought a report from the Superintendent of Police N. Vishnuvardhan after the woman was found alive, reserved orders in the case for April 23.

After the circle inspector of Bylakuppe police station Deepak submitted an 18-page report on behalf of the Superintendent of Police on Thursday, the judge took serious exception to the investigation of the police when the report sought to justify the contents of chargesheet filed against the tribal Suresh.

“The judge slammed the police for submitting a ‘disastrous’ chargesheet,” Pandu Pujari, who is the counsel for Mr. Suresh, told The Hindu.

It may be mentioned here that Mr. Suresh, a resident of Basavanahalli in Kushalnagar rural police station limits in Kodagu, lodged a complaint with the police on November 13, 2020, that his wife Mallige was missing. Just the previous day, the police in neighbouring Bettadapura station limits had come across an unidentified dead body of a woman.

Subsequently, the Bettadapura police accused Mr. Suresh, who had incidentally lodged a complaint that his wife was missing a day earlier, of murdering Ms. Mallige and claimed that the unidentified body recovered from their limits was that of his wife. Mr. Suresh had spent about two years in jail before he was released on bail.

Not only did a DNA report show a mismatch between Ms. Mallige and the unidentified dead body, but Mr. Suresh’s wife was eventually spotted in a restaurant in Madikeri with her male friend Ganesh earlier this month.

Mr. Pujari said there was “no proper justifiable reason” by the investigation officer during the hearing held in the Mysuru court on Thursday.

While accusing the police of “fabricating evidence” and creating a chargesheet only to “frame” his client, Mr. Suresh, who is innocent, Mr. Pujari said Mr. Suresh had lost about two years of his precious time in custody for an offence he never committed. “His reputation in society was also spoiled. He has been tortured and made to confess an offence,” Mr. Pujari said, while accusing the police officials involved in the investigation of “playing a fraud on the court” by filing a “fabricated” chargesheet.

Mr. Pujari demanded the registration of a suo moto case against the investigation officers and sought compensation for his client Mr. Suresh for the suffering he had undergone.