1993 Perla murder case: Accused black magician convicted

Mangalore Today News Network

Kasargod, Nov 20, 2013: Exactly 20 years after the Devaloka murder case at Perla, the Additional District and Sessions Court has passed a judgement on November 19, Tuesday, convicting Imam Hussain (53) of Sagar  taluk in the case. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on November 21.

The murder of Srikrishna Bhat(45) and his wife  Srimathi (35)  on October 9, 1993  at Perla Devaloka  had shocked the entire district. The convict Hussain who was a notorious black magician had convinced the couple that there was treasure in their  backyards  had  promised to get it out through black magic. However, he had killed  Sri Krishna Bhat  and had buried him  while Srimathi was stabbed to death inside the house. Gold jewellery was also found looted from the house.

The accused  Imam Hussain was arrested almost 19 years after the murder  on April 12, 2012  at a house at Bilalnagar  near Bangalore where he was in hiding. The Badiadka police who had initially taken up the case had  realized long back that Hussain was the accused on the basis of his visiting card found in the couple’s house. But when they could not trace the accused, the case was  shifted from the  Crime Branch to the CID.

The court had begun the trials on February 22 and had documented the statements of 39 out of the 68 witnesses. A total of 58 documents were also produced before the court.

Additional Public Prosecutor Thomas D’Souza was the prosecution lawyer, while Ashraf, Subhash and Nisar were the lawyers for the  accused.

The couple’s three sons Muralikrishna, Sudarshan, Niranjan and several   family members were present. Though the verdict pleased everyone,  the general opinion was that the convict must get the maximum punishment