Bengaluru court convicts two in 2021 murder where victim's body was never found
Two men get life imprisonment for the 2021 abduction and murder of K. Seetha over a property dispute, despite her body never being recovered.
A Bengaluru court has sentenced two men to life imprisonment in connection with the 2021 abduction and murder of a woman whose body was never recovered, imposing a fine of ₹30,000 on each of them.
The city civil and sessions court found S. Noor Ahmed, 43, a realtor from Mantralayam, and Satyanarayana alias Sathya, 39, guilty of killing K. Seetha, a resident of Gayatrinagar under the Subramanyanagar police station limits. Two other accused, Raghu alias Mental Raghu and Bestakumar, died while the proceedings were pending.
According to the prosecution, Seetha was at odds with her family over property in Mantralayam. While other members wanted to sell the land, she declined to part with her share. Investigators alleged that efforts were repeatedly made to persuade her to agree to the transaction before a conspiracy was hatched to eliminate her.
The prosecution's account is that Noor Ahmed had agreed to sell two acres of land to the son of a politician, but Seetha refused to sign the documents at the time of registration. It was alleged that he offered ₹8 lakh for her murder and paid ₹2 lakh in advance.
On March 26, 2021, Seetha was taken from Bengaluru on the pretext of travelling to Hassan to buy jewellery. En route towards Bellur Cross and later Hosapete, she was allegedly attacked with a stone. The accused are said to have told her she needed medical treatment and then administered medicine mixed with cyanide, which killed her. Her body was allegedly disposed of in a canal near Hosapete.
Despite searches, the remains were never found, and the case was therefore constructed on circumstantial, technical and other evidence. Investigators relied on call detail records, CCTV footage and other technical material to reconstruct her movements and establish links between the accused. Jewellery allegedly removed from Seetha after her death and later pledged at a jewellery shop also formed part of the evidence.
A murder case was registered at the Subramanyanagar police station on November 24, 2021. The investigation was carried out by then police inspector H.B. Sanjeev Gowda and his team, who filed the charge sheet.
Special Public Prosecutor Shailaja K. Naik, appearing for the prosecution, argued that a complete chain of circumstantial and technical evidence had established Seetha's death and the involvement of the accused even though her body was never recovered. The court accepted the case and convicted the two surviving accused.