The bodies of Padmavathi, wife of Harish Naik, and tractor driver Hithesh, who were murdered, were found lying together in a semi-nude state near the victim's home on Sunday. Hithesh had been hired by Harish Naik for the purpose of levelling the mud for the construction of his new home.
After the murders came to light, the suspicion had fallen immediately on Vasanth who had spent the night on Saturday in Harish's house but had gone missing the next morning. Subsequently, the police had begun a hunt for Vasanth.
An investigating police team led by Sullia Circle Inspector H V Sudarshan nabbed the accused at night on Monday at his relatives' house at nearby Ubaradka in Sullia taluk.
Confession
After questioning, Vasanth (52) is said to have confessed to the murders, citing the victims' alleged affair as the motive behind the crime.
According to Vasanth, he and Hithesh had consumed alcohol after meals at night on Saturday and arrived at Harish's house in a stupor, where they had apparently tried to convince Padmavathi to indulge in sexual activities with them.
This was apparently overheard even by her husband Harish and their children, who were asleep outside the house. Two other JCB operators sleeping with them went away in distaste to sleep in their own vehicle.
When Vasanth approached Padmavathi, Hithesh had allegedly crossed him. This resulted in an argument between them, which quickly turned into a heated confrontation which lasted the entire night.
Early the next morning, Vasanth flew into a rage upon seeing Padmavathi and Hitesh slink away from the house. Armed with an axe, he followed the duo to a nearby hillock. On finding them together, he confessed to having first struck Hithesh on his head with the axe and Padmavathi in a similar manner. Having killed them both, he then cleaned the weapon, kept it back in its place, and informed Harish about returning to Sullia.
Once the news of the murder spread around the place, he had gone into hiding before he was nabbed by the police.
In custody, Vasanth said that he was a regular at Harish's house over few years, and revealed as having had sexual relations with Padmavathi secretly from the past two-and-a-half years.
Originally from Kasaragod, he had been residing at Mullya in Ajjawara after having married there. Recently, he had stopped coming home and had taken to staying near Kasaragod. He is said to have had another marriage there.
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