Mangalore police catches murderers using mobile phone link

Tracking a mobile phone for 10 months finally paid dividends as the Dakshina Kannada police managed to nab the murderers of the woman to whom the handset belonged.

Giving details of the case, AS Rao, superintendent of police, Dakshina Kannada, said that Mallika alias Meenakshi of Buntwal taluk went missing on March 14. The police questioned her husband Lokesh with little success. The telecom operator was roped in to track Mallika’s phone calls, but even this did not yield any result.

In every respect, the case was hopeless. However, on December 24, a conversation was tracked from the cellphone, giving hope to the police.

A villager in Tumkur district, who was using the cellphone, told the police that he found the handset lying near a dhaba in Turuvekere.

Further inquiry revealed that Lokesh used to frequent the dhaba and had killed his wife with the help of his friend Ramakrishna, suspecting her of infidelity.

A second round of interrogation threw more light into the case. The duo had allegedly killed Mallika by smashing her head and disposed of her body in Turuvekere.

The Tumkur police also reported that they had come across an unidentified body of a woman with a badly mutilated face. Both Lokesh and Ramakrishna are charged with murder under Section 302. They are under the custody of Buntwal police.