Woman gang-raped and thrown into well

Mangalore Today News Network

Karkala, Jul 12, 2012 : Police investigation has revealed that Uma (44), wife of Chukuda of Belvai, did not commit suicide by jumping into the well, but was raped and then thrown into a well by a gang of three men.

The police have already arrested Dinakar Mogera (22) of Belvai in connection with this case. Allegedly, Dinakar and two of his friends took Uma to a room in an old commercial complex in Belvai, gave her alcohol to drink, and then raped her. After raping her, they realized that she was having difficulties in breathing and decided to throw her into the well.

On May 2, Uma’s half-naked body was found in a private well behind the Belvai Bus Stop. Two days back, Uma’s family had lodged a missing person complaint in the Moodubidri police station.

Uma was spotted by various people in Belvai on April 29. The police, therefore, suspect that the crime was committed either on April 29 or on the next day.

Since Uma, the mother of two children, had become mentally ill because her husband was continuously torturing her, the local people believed that she must have committed suicide. The police also arrested Uma’s husband Chukuda and interrogated him.

On July 9, Monday, police were investigating the theft of telephone wires, which were stolen from Sanoor in Karkala. On Tuesday, the police arrested Dinakar, who was hanging around Sanoor Math. On police interrogation, Dinakar said that he stole the telephone wires and a pump set and that he and his friends raped Uma and threw her into the well when she was still alive.

The police seized a pump set, telephone cable wires, a sickle, and Rs. 26,400 from the arrested.

It turned out that Dinakar was a confirmed thief, who had several theft cases registered against him in Moodubidri and Karkala. He was notorious for his habit of vanishing from bars and wine shops without paying the bills.

A police team comprising Pramod Kumar P., town police officer; Gaviraj, probationary PSI; and officers Dinesh, Prakash K., Poojary, Shivanand Poojary, Praveen, Arun Kumar, Suresh Shetty, and others investigated the case.