Hotel worker Balakrishna Salyan’s physical pain was increasing due to fever and vomiting, and when his condition did not improve even after 25 days, he was taken to the Rotary Hospital in Karnataka.
A 44-year-old man, a resident of Udupi in Karnataka, was diagnosed with jaundice. Following a series of visits to various hospitals – KMC Hospital, Manipal, Mangaluru’s Wenlock Hospital, Nimhans and Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru, he did not recover and returned to his home in Ajekar on the night of October 19.
When he died on October 20, Udupi police on the same day arrested Balakrishna’s wife Prathima Balakrishna, 30, who owned a beauty shop, and a man she had met on Instagram a year ago, Dileep Hegde, 30.
According to the police, Balakrishna was beaten with a pillow on the morning of October 20, allegedly by his wife and Dileep. In the CCTV footage, police said, Dileep could be seen near the victim’s residence. It is reported that Prathima tried to pass off the cause of her husband’s death as illness. This arrest comes after Balakrishna’s brother Ramakrishna Salyan found out that Prathima “confessed” to her brother Sandeep that she killed her husband with the help of Dileep.
“Balakrishna’s wife Prathima was known to be friendly with Dileep Hegde from Hirgana (village). After Balakrishna’s death, Prathima’s brother Sandeep became suspicious and questioned her,” the complaint said.
Prathima, according to the complaint, told Sandeep that Dileep allegedly carried a “poisonous substance” and gave it to her with which she used to lick her husband’s food. Ajekar police arrested Prathima on charges of murder and conspiracy.
“Investigation revealed that the victim was poisoned slowly for a long time by his wife, who was allegedly poisoned by her friend,” said Udupi police.
Prathima confided in Sandeep that Dileep came to the house on October 20 at around 01:30 in the morning after the relatives who had come to see the ailing Balakrishna had left.