Overview

• Investigators allege the victim was strangled and pesticide was forced into her mouth to stage the death as a suicide in Melakunda, Kalaburagi, on Thursday.
• Villagers initially accepted the suicide narrative and performed last rites before police intervened.
• Farhatabad police registered a suo motu FIR and sent a forensic team that recovered bone fragments and soil samples from a farm where the body was burned.
• Officials say the suspected motive was her relationship with autorickshaw driver Malappa Pujari from a different community, which the family opposed.
• Police have arrested the father, Shankar, and say two relatives are suspected and being pursued, with reports differing on whether any additional arrests have occurred.