Many dreams strangled to death with Sowmya

Bantwal, Feb 26: Police hit the nail on the head in the murder case of Sowmya from Belthila village in Bantwal taluk by arresting Sathish from the same village. The accused is said to have strangled Sowmya to death for not heeding to his sexual demands.

The case holds mirror to the deteriorating law and order situation in the region especially when the Saujanya murder case itself is still a burning issue.

On Tuesday last rites of Sowmya were performed at Koorya in Belthila village amidst hundreds of grieving people who knew her. Sowmya had joined a private school for job in Manipal just fifteen days ago. This job had brought a silver lining to the poverty stricken family. As she was aspiring to get a job as primary school teachers, she had visited her aunt in Manipal to get some idea on the application format. Unfortunately, her dream of becoming a teacher died a gruesome death on Monday.

Sowmya's house can easily pass off as a hut. With plastic sheets spread on the ceiling, this small hut accommodates seven members of the family. A small thatched room on the other side accommodates all the photos of gods. Here they have kept a wooden bench to seat the guests. The members of the family had knit a dream of a better life once Sowmya would start earning. Unfortunately, the dream of a better living too died a gruesome death on Monday.

While her father would earn some money by playing musical instruments, Sowmya's mother used to work in nearby households to supplement the income of the family. The couple has four daughters and one son. While Sowmya was the eldest, most of the hopes of the family were pinned on her.

While Balthila GP had provided fund to the family under Basava Kalyan Yojana, the construction work too has come to a standstill after the loss of the potential bread winner of the house.

Confession

Meanwhile, Sathish, the accused has confessed to the crime and said that it was around 1.30 pm that Sowmya was walking down the road when he waylaid her and held her hand.

When Sowmya resisted, he was raged and he ended up strangling her to death and threw her body into the pond.

After the incident, he rushed back home, changed into new clothes and joined the group of people who had gathered at the pond on discovering the death body and pretended to mourn. The cops have produced the accused before the JMFC court. The accused has been handed over to judicial custody for fifteen days.

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