Three individuals, including a woman and her lover, have been arrested for allegedly murdering her husband by drowning him in the Krishna River in Belagavi in December 2023. The breakthrough occurred when one of the accused, Prakash Bennali (27), admitted to the crime.
Belagavi Superintendent of Police Bhimashankar Guled explained that the case dates back to December 27, 2023, when the body of an unidentified person was found in the Krishna River at Haroogeri. Despite attempts to identify the deceased by contacting nearby police stations in Maharashtra and Goa, no missing person reports matched the description, leading the police to register the case as an unnatural death and cremate the body.
The investigation gained momentum when Prakash was detained and confessed that he, along with Mallappa Kambhar’s (34) wife, Danavva (26), and his friend Ramappa (28), murdered Mallappa by getting him drunk and pushing him into the river at Athani. Following the disappearance, Danavva concocted a story claiming that her husband had run off with another woman in Chikkodi. The villagers, familiar with Mallappa’s drinking habits and frequent quarrels, paid little attention to his absence.
Further questioning revealed that Danavva had been in a three-year affair with Prakash. Mallappa had discovered the affair and confronted Prakash several times, escalating tensions in the household. The three then planned and executed the murder by intoxicating Mallappa and drowning him in the river.
The investigation also uncovered that Mallappa had previously filed a missing persons report about Danavva and their children, who had disappeared for 15 days a year earlier. Upon her return, Danavva claimed that Mallappa had harassed her, further raising suspicions about her actions.
The three accused—Danavva, Prakash, and Ramappa—were presented in court on Tuesday and remanded to judicial custody for 14 days as investigations continue.
