Karnataka man spent 2.5 years in jail for murder; woman found alive

A man in Karnataka's Mandya district who spent about two and a half years in jail on charges of murdering a woman has been cleared of the central allegation, after the woman was traced alive on Wednesday (11 November). Rajesh M R, a construction worker from Pandavapura taluk, was arrested in August 2021 over the death of Manju N, who had gone missing in 2019. She was found living in Mayigonahalli village in Nagamangala taluk, in the same district, and told police she did not know him. Mandya's Superintendent of Police (SP) has now ordered an inquiry into the original investigation.

Manju went missing from her family home in Pandavapura on 23 June 2019, The Indian Express reported. Her family filed a missing-person complaint, but police could not trace her.

About two years later, in August 2021, her father Nagaraju went back to the police and alleged that she had been murdered, naming Rajesh. According to The Indian Express, Nagaraju said two local residents had told him that Rajesh had spoken about it. Mandya SP V J Shobha Rani told Hindustan Times that two people told police on 11 August 2021 that Rajesh had murdered Manju, and that a case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered the same day. Police alleged that he had killed her and thrown her body into the Visvesvaraya Canal.

A key link in the case was a phone call. Investigators found that Manju's last call before she disappeared had been made from Rajesh's mobile phone, after she met him at the Pandavapura bus stand. Rajesh has said she had only borrowed his phone and that he did not know her. Manju has now said the same. "I never knew who Rajesha was but had taken his phone to call," she told the media, according to The Indian Express.

Police say Rajesh confessed during interrogation. Rajesh says the confession was forced out of him. He alleges that the then Pandavapura police inspector and other officers beat him, gave him electric shocks and threatened to arrest members of his family if he did not confess, and that he signed because he feared for them. His lawyer, K B Natesh, made the same claims to Star of Mysore. These are allegations and have not been tested; the SP has said police will decide on action against the investigating officer after the inquiry report.

Rajesh spent about two and a half years in judicial custody before being released on bail in 2024, and has been fighting the case in court since. Reports differ on the exact month of his bail.

Natesh told Star of Mysore that he traced Manju in Nagamangala with the help of an autorickshaw driver and handed her over to the Bindiganavile police. Manju told police that she left home to escape a marriage she did not want and later married another man, with whom she was living. The police placed her in protective care, CNBC-TV18 reported.

"We have handed over the case to the Srirangapatna Deputy Superintendent of Police for a probe. Based on his report, we will initiate action against the investigating officer," Shobha Rani told Hindustan Times. The inspector who arrested Rajesh and filed the chargesheet has since retired. Natesh said a complaint seeking action against him will also be submitted to the SP.