A 27-year-old woman was killed allegedly by her in-laws, as they felt she cannot bear children in Athani of Belagavi district.
Renuka Santosh Honakande was found dead near Malabadi village on Saturday.
She had fallen from a bike and fractured her skull after hitting a stone. Her husband Santosh told the police that she had died after her sari was caught in the bike wheels and strangled her neck.
She was riding pillion with her father-in-law Kamanna and mother-in-law Jayashree. He also told the police that her parents could not rescue her in time.
However, investigation revealed that the three killed her for not bearing them a child.
The police arrested Kamanna, Jayashree and Santosh on Monday.
They have been charged with murder, cruelty towards woman, dowry death, destruction of evidence and unlawful assembly under Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita and some provisions of the Dowry Prohibition Act.
A court sent them to judicial custody.
The accused had made it to look like an accident. The father-in-law and mother-in-law had knocked down Renuka, crushed her head with a stone, tied a sari around her neck and strangled her to death, the police said.
They created a scene where the woman’s sari got caught in the motorcycle wheel. They tied her to the bike and dragged it about 120 ft from the place of murder, they added.
Officers acted on some clues and brought out the truth, Superintendent of Police Bheemashankar S. Guled said.
A case has been registered at the Athani Police Station.
Published – May 20, 2025 06:14 pm IST
