Jealous of first wife’s happy life, man kills her five-year-old daughter

Mysuru: Envious of his first wife’s successful second marriage, a 45-year-old man in a Chamarajanagar village murdered her five-year-old daughter on Monday. Mahesh Ganganayaka, who was assisted in committing the heinous crime by his second wife Rathnamma, confessed to the crime. The couple has been arrested and taken into judicial custody.
Mahesh had been married to Gauramma, with whom he had had a daughter. However, the couple subsequently separated, and while Mahesh married Rathnamma, Gauramma tied the knot with Mahadeva Swamy Maliyanayaka. While Mahesh and Rathnamma were not able to conceive, Gauramma was blessed with a daughter – Mahalakshmi, the victim – from her second marriage as well.
In their confession, Mahesh and Rathnamma said that they were jealous of Gauramma’s happy life, which incited them to the crime.
Even after they went their separate ways, Mahesh and Gauramma remained neighbours in Somanahalli.
On Monday, when five-year-old Mahalakshmi, who was returning home after visiting a relative in the village, Mahesh pushed her into a sump, killing her. After recovering her body from the sump, with Rathnamma’s help, he wrapped it in a plastic bag, which was kept in the puja room of the couple’s home.
Terakanambi police in Chamarajanagar, overseeing the investigation, said that Mahalakshmi was killed around 12.30pm on Monday. “Mahadeva Swamy and Gauramma searched for their daughter frantically till evening. Suspecting that something was amiss, they intimated police, and voiced their suspicions over the possible involvement of Mahesh and Rathnamma. When we searched the latter couple’s house on Monday night, we found the body in a plastic cover,” police said.
Chamarajanagar superintendent of police Divya Sara Thomas dubbed it a ‘sad’ incident. She said that police registered a ‘missing person’ complaint from the aggrieved couple around 9.30pm on Monday. “We wasted no time in launching the probe. I dispatched two senior officials to Somanahalli. When Gauramma said that she suspected her first husband and his second wife of foul play, we searched their house, and found the girl’s body,” SP Divya said.