Four days after she disappeared from Udupi district, BJP MLA Raghupathi Bhats wife Padmapriya was on Sunday found dead in an apartment in Delhi.
Her body was found hanging from the ceiling fan hook in the Dwarka apartment when a team of police from Karnataka and Delhi broke open the door at around 6:15 pm.
Early indications from the police were that it could be case of suicide. This, however, has hardly helped unravel the mystery. No suicide note has been found.
Padmapriya’s body was taken to the capital’s Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital from where it was later shifted to Safdarjang Hospital. The post-mortem will be conducted on Monday morning.
Karnataka Home Minister V S Acharya, who also hails from Udupi, had on Saturday night spoke of giving “good news” in the missing case.
‘Temporary depression’
Acharya, who reached the national capital on Sunday evening to attend an official meeting, told Deccan Herald that Padmapriya had committed suicide due to “temporary depression”.
He claimed: “Our police had established that she was in Delhi three days ago. We wanted to protect her, especially from the media, and take her back to Udupi. Hence we did not disclose it. By 10:30 am on Sunday, our police were here. Our police have handled the case well.”
Informed sources said Padmapriya’s presence in Delhi was disclosed to the Udupi police by Atul Kumar, a friend of Bhat and Padmapriya, on Saturday. Atul accompanied the Karnataka police team, led by Bangalore ACP Jeethendra, that arrived in Delhi. The Karnataka police came to the apartment at around 2:30 pm. They made Atul knock on the door and call her. When there was no reply, they returned with the Dwarka police in the evening and broke open the door in the presence of Raghupathi Bhat and Padmapriya’s brother, Rajshekar who also had reached the national capital.
Rajshekar blamed Atul for the fate that befell his sister. According to a police version, Atul had taken Padmapriya to Puttur and then the duo travelled to Goa from where they are believed to have taken a flight to Delhi.
Circumstantial evidence also suggested that Atul had arranged for her the three-bedroom, fourth floor flat (Flat No. 20) of the eight-storey Shama Apartments, Plot 32, Sector 10 in Dwarka sub-city of the national capital.
In Delhi for six days?
Though it was said that Padmapriya went missing on Wednesday last, the Delhi police, in a statement late on Sunday evening, said she had arrived in the national capital at least six days ago. It appeared that she had planned to stay put in the national capital and had no desire to return home in Udupi. On June 12, she bought a car: Wagon R (Registration No. DL- 8CD 6949). The car was purchased from Manjit Motors in the name of one Prem and delivered at the apartment complex at 12:30 pm on that day. She even appeared to have acquired a mobile phone connection as the service providers had come to the apartment for the mandatory verification procedure.
Late on June 12 evening, she and presumably Atul had left in the car to the Delhi domestic airport. Atul appears to have left that evening for Bangalore.
Padmapriya had a couple of male visitors on Saturday. She was seen leaving her new flat in the evening to buy some utensils and vegetables. She was accompanied by an unidentified man. The owner of the semi-furnished flat is one Lakhwinder Singh. Padmapriya was said to have signed an agreement to take the house on rent, a copy of which was deposited with the apartment association.
Her body was found hanging from the ceiling fan hook in the Dwarka apartment when a team of police from Karnataka and Delhi broke open the door at around 6:15 pm.
Early indications from the police were that it could be case of suicide. This, however, has hardly helped unravel the mystery. No suicide note has been found.
Padmapriya’s body was taken to the capital’s Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital from where it was later shifted to Safdarjang Hospital. The post-mortem will be conducted on Monday morning.
Karnataka Home Minister V S Acharya, who also hails from Udupi, had on Saturday night spoke of giving “good news” in the missing case.
‘Temporary depression’
Acharya, who reached the national capital on Sunday evening to attend an official meeting, told Deccan Herald that Padmapriya had committed suicide due to “temporary depression”.
He claimed: “Our police had established that she was in Delhi three days ago. We wanted to protect her, especially from the media, and take her back to Udupi. Hence we did not disclose it. By 10:30 am on Sunday, our police were here. Our police have handled the case well.”
Informed sources said Padmapriya’s presence in Delhi was disclosed to the Udupi police by Atul Kumar, a friend of Bhat and Padmapriya, on Saturday. Atul accompanied the Karnataka police team, led by Bangalore ACP Jeethendra, that arrived in Delhi. The Karnataka police came to the apartment at around 2:30 pm. They made Atul knock on the door and call her. When there was no reply, they returned with the Dwarka police in the evening and broke open the door in the presence of Raghupathi Bhat and Padmapriya’s brother, Rajshekar who also had reached the national capital.
Rajshekar blamed Atul for the fate that befell his sister. According to a police version, Atul had taken Padmapriya to Puttur and then the duo travelled to Goa from where they are believed to have taken a flight to Delhi.
Circumstantial evidence also suggested that Atul had arranged for her the three-bedroom, fourth floor flat (Flat No. 20) of the eight-storey Shama Apartments, Plot 32, Sector 10 in Dwarka sub-city of the national capital.
In Delhi for six days?
Though it was said that Padmapriya went missing on Wednesday last, the Delhi police, in a statement late on Sunday evening, said she had arrived in the national capital at least six days ago. It appeared that she had planned to stay put in the national capital and had no desire to return home in Udupi. On June 12, she bought a car: Wagon R (Registration No. DL- 8CD 6949). The car was purchased from Manjit Motors in the name of one Prem and delivered at the apartment complex at 12:30 pm on that day. She even appeared to have acquired a mobile phone connection as the service providers had come to the apartment for the mandatory verification procedure.
Late on June 12 evening, she and presumably Atul had left in the car to the Delhi domestic airport. Atul appears to have left that evening for Bangalore.
Padmapriya had a couple of male visitors on Saturday. She was seen leaving her new flat in the evening to buy some utensils and vegetables. She was accompanied by an unidentified man. The owner of the semi-furnished flat is one Lakhwinder Singh. Padmapriya was said to have signed an agreement to take the house on rent, a copy of which was deposited with the apartment association.
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