Man strangles wife in car, airs incident at TV channel

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Aug 28, 2015: Police stated Nagaraj, 38, who works as an electrician, killed his wife, Jyothi, 28, as he suspected her fidelity and because she was causing him financial problems.  They said a man strangled his wife of 15 years with her own dupatta in his car in Basavanagudi and then went to the office of a Kannada news channel to "announce" her death Aug 27.  The murder story unfolded like the plot of a Kannada potboiler.

 

Nagaraj, a resident of Chamarajpet, had married Jyothi about 15 years ago. The couple have three children. Jyothi stayed at home, running a chit business. Their relationship soured when Jyothi borrowed money from various people and, in the process, got close to a man. To repay the lenders, she gave them her husband’s blank cheques without keeping him in the loop. The cheques bounced. When Nagaraj learnt about that, he got furious, a police officer said.

Their relationship strained further when Nagaraj spotted his wife moving with a man. He warned her to stop the affair but to his shock, she ditched him and started living separately. Nagaraj, the officer said, was so traumatised that he poisoned his three children and tried to kill himself recently. But all the four were rushed to hospital in the nick of time, and survived.

On Aug 27 morning, Nagaraj got to know that Jyothi was at her sister’s house. He went there and told her he wanted to discuss an important matter. Jyothi didn’t suspect a thing and went along. He took her in his car and drove to KR Park in Basavanagudi. He pulled in outside the park and, in the blink of an eye, pounced on her. He snatched her dupatta and strangled her while they were still in the car. He then parked the car some distance away and hired an auto-rickshaw to the office of the television channel where he narrated the incident.

The channel’s staff alerted the police who reached the place and detained Nagaraj. Police said Nagaraj had "confessed" to killing his wife. "She was having an affair with a man and didn’t stop it even after my repeated requests. I decided to kill her as there was no option before me. Moreover, I had landed in financial trouble because of her," he told the police.