Elderly woman living alone found murdered in Bedadka; police confirm well-planned crime, robbery angle being probed

Police have confirmed that the death of Pushpalatha A.V. Shetty (72), an elderly woman living alone at Mauvar, Gosada in Kumbadaje near Badiadka was a murder carried out with clear planning. A post mortem conducted at the Kannur Government Medical College Hospital on Friday established that she was strangled to death, investigators said.

The body was found inside the kitchen of her house around 9.40 p.m. on Wednesday under mysterious circumstances. Though she owned around seven acres of plantation land, Pushpalatha lived alone in a small sheet roofed house in an isolated area with very few neighbouring homes. Her husband, Venkappa Shetty, had died a year ago and the couple had no children.

The crime came to light after Vansha, the daugher of Pushpalatha’s elder sister Sujatha, who works in Bengaluru and regularly called her, failed to reach her by phone from Wednesday evening until around 9 p.m. Neighbours and a panchayat member were asked to check the house. The front door was locked from outside, while the kitchen door was found open. Pushpalatha was discoverd dead inside. Police were immediately informed and Vansha, who arrived at Bedadka lodged a formal complaint on Thursday morning.

Preliminary examination revealed signs of a struggle inside the house. Police found marks of strangulation on the next and scratch injuries on the face, pointing to homicide. The gold mangalsutra weighing over four sovereigns that she usually wore was missing, strengthening the suspicion that the murder may have been committed during a robbery.

Senior police officers, including District Police Chief Vijay Bharat Reddy and DySP C.K. Sunil Kumar along with forensic experts, fingerprint specialist and a sniffer dog squad, inspected the scene. Investigators suspect the assailant chose the time carefully, as a nearby family had gone out for Sankranti celebration on the day of the crime.

The post-mortem report confirmed death due to manual strangulation, after which the case was formally treated as murder. The police surgeon is scheduled to visit the crime scene to reconstruct the sequence of events and collect further scientific evidence.

The investigation is being led by Badiadka Inspector A Santhosh Kumar. Police are examining whether the crime was committed by someone known to the victim and are questioning neighbours and relatives. A case has been registered under section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 and an intensive probe is under way.