Mangaluru, May 5: Dakshina Kannada district police have solved a blind murder case within four days and arrested six persons including a married temple priest, who hatched the murder plan to avert the wedding of a woman, whom he loved without her knowledge.

The arrests were made on Thursday, four days after the charred remains of a body was found at Avekki on the Dharmasthala-Patrame Road on April 30. The police were completely clueless about the identity of deceased when they found the burnt body.
The arrested accused have been identified as Ananda (30), the priest of Shree Adhishakti Mahamayi Temple, Belthangady; Praveen Naik, resident of Church Road, Belthangady; Vinay Bangera (30), resident of Charmadi Village; Lokesh Moolya, resident of Pudu village; Prakash (31), resident of Moodukodi village and Nagaraj (39), resident of Melanthabettu. Police have not revealed whether the accused belong to any saffron outfit.
According to sources, a belt buckle found on the body, finally gave the investigating team a good enough lead through which they traced the murder accused and the identity of the deceased.
Temple priest kills Hindu youth
Soon the police came to know the victim was Suresh (30), resident of Belthangady, who went missing on the eve of his wedding. With the help of material evidence found at the spot, the body was identified as that of Suresh's by his uncle Sanjeeva Naik, who had filed a missing complainant about the victim's disappearance.
Police, who kept a watch on complainant Sanjeeva Naik's movements as he too was on under suspicion, arrested Vinay Bangera thanks to some evidence of his involvement in Suresh's disappearance.
During interrogation he spilled beans about Suresh's murder. Based on his confession, the priest and other accused were arrested.
According to police the temple priest, father of two children was in love with a girl, who was getting married to victim. However, it was a said to be one sided love.
Superintended of police Bhushan Gulabrao Borase, told media persons that the temple priest wanted to avert the wedding of the girl whom he loved at any cost. So he, called all his associates, and hatched a plot to kill the bridegroom Suresh.
The accused called Suresh a day before his wedding and asked him to come along with them to get information about a government scheme - Ganga Kalyana Yojana. When Suresh arrived at the pre-designated spot, the accused took him to remote place in a four-wheeler. They threatened him to forego his marriage plans with the girl. When Suresh refused, they strangled him with help of a nylon rope. The accused later took body near Avakki, wrapped it with a gunny sack and burnt body using petrol.



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