Girlfriend, paramour guilty of murder: Court

• Instigating her current lover to kill her past lover
• Guilty of murder under section 302 IPC
• Criminal conspiracy under section 120 B

Mangaluru: The sixth additional district and sessions court here has held a woman and her paramour guilty of the charges of instigating her current lover to kill her past lover and the murder charge on the current lover.  The Court is expected to announce the quantum of punishment on Friday.

On April 1, 2014, Avinash (21), resident of Kendottupadavu in Bola village, Karkala taluk, was murdered by causing an accident near Pavanje Bridge in the taluk on national highway 66. Gaviranga alias Harish (26) from Antanakere village, Tipatur taluk in Tumakuru district, and Sushma Prescilla (26) from Padubail, Mulky Karnad were the accused in the case.

Sushma was employed at a call centre and an IT services company at Morgan’s Gate here, and Harish was working as a cab driver for the same company.

Avinash and Sushma were in a relationship and had made it public in 2014. However, Sushma developed proximity to Harish and when Avinash got clue of her affair; he tried to visit her at her office on the evening of March 31^st, 2014. As he tried to barge into the office by bypassing security, the HR manager at Sushma’s company filed a police complaint against him. Avinash was let go after the police issued him a strict warning at the station.

The HR had then called Sushma and given her some advice. Sushma, feeling insulted, resigned from her job immediately. Sushma informed Gaviranga that she had lost her job because of Avinash and intended to teach him a lesson.

Later, Sushma called Avinash and told him she wanted to talk to him and asked him to meet her near Mukka check post at 4.45 am on April 1^st. However, when Avinash reached the check post on his bike, Sushma wasn’t there. On contrary, Gaviranga chased Avinash in his Tata Sumo car and knocked down his motor bike near Pavanje Bridge by hitting his car against the motor bike.

People proceeding for fishing activity saw Avinash lying on the road with grave injuries and admitted him into hospital. But, he failed to respond to the treatment and died at 7 am the same day. Before dying, he had narrated his tale to the ambulance staff. Avinash’s father registered murder case in Mulki police station.

Ramachandra Nayak, the then Mulki police inspector probed the case and filed the chargesheet. D T Puttaranga Swamy,Judge of the sixth additional district and sessions court  heard the case and found Gaviranga guilty of murder under section 302 of Indian Penal Code and of criminal conspiracy under section 1l20 B against Sushma Prescilla. Public prosecutor, Judith Olga Margaret Crasta, presented the case on behalf of the prosecution. A total of 28 witnesses were examined and 40 documents were produced in the case.