Kerala woman missing, found dead in Karnataka; a tale of love, deceit, and murder

In a horrific crime, a 20-year-old married woman was allegedly killed by a man, who was in a relationship with her, by stuffing some "chemical powder" into her mouth after a heated argument, police said on Monday.

The incident occurred on Saturday at a lodge in Bherya village of Saligrama taluk in this district, they said, adding the woman died following consumption of the chemical.

The accused Siddaraju was arrested, police said, adding he tried to portray the cause of her death as "due to mobile blast" to mislead the investigators. A case of murder was registered at the Saligrama police station in Karnataka.

According to police, the victim, Darshitha, a resident of Gerasanahalli village in Hunsur taluk, was married to a man from Kerala and was in a relationship with Siddaraju.

Meanwhile, Kerala police said Darshitha went missing on August 22 from her matrimonial home in Kannur district along with 30 sovereigns of gold ornaments and Rs 4 lakh in cash. Darshitha was the wife of Subhas A P, who works as a driver in Dubai. She married Subhas in 2022 and the couple has a two-year-old daughter.

Citing preliminary investigation, a senior Karnataka police officer said that the victim and the accused were in relationship for a long time. However, she started avoiding him recently and did not take any effort to stay in touch. This upset him leading to a quarrel.

During their stay at the lodge, a heated argument broke out between her and Siddaraju, following which he killed her. The accused allegedly tried to mislead the police by claiming that the death was caused by mobile phone blast.

After killing her, he shouted saying that the mobile phone had exploded. However, when the staff came, there was no mobile phone in the room. When the accused was asked about the alleged "exploded mobile phone," he claimed that he threw it out of the window, the senior police officer said.

The staff searched for the mobile phone but could not find it and they became suspicious and called the police, the officer said. Based on the investigation, the accused was arrested after he confessed to the crime.

Mysuru Superintendent of Police Vishnuvardhana N, said: "The victim was married to someone who is in Kerala, but she was in a relationship with the accused. We are further investigating the reason behind this murder. He used a chemical powder combination to kill her, which is currently being examined by the forensic experts." Kerala police said that on Friday evening when Darshitha's mother-in-law, Sumatha, and brother-in-law, Sooraj, returned home, they found the woman and her daughter missing, along with gold ornaments and cash. Sumatha tried to contact Darishitha, but she did not respond. Hence, Sumatha filed a complaint at Irrikur police station in Kannur district, where a case for theft was registered.

When police contacted Darshitha's relatives in Karnataka, they said that she was on the way to Kannur after handing over the child to her parents. Her phone remained switched off.