Karnataka: Accused acquitted for murder of medical college employee

Mangaluru: Renuka Prasad, and six others who were charged for having murdered Ramakrishna A.S. an administrative officer of KVG Medical College in Sullia, five years ago have been acquitted of the charge. Ramakrishna was murdered in April 2011. Renuka Prasad the main accused in the case is the younger son of Kurunji Venkataramana Gowda, the founder of Sullia-based Academy of Liberal Education.

Renuka Prasad and the six others accused in this case have got away scot free as the victim’s son who was at the time of incident in class 9 turned hostile. He told the court that he could not recall the sequence of events, as they happened on the day. Mrs Ramakrishna the victim’s wife said she was not aware of her husband being harassed by Renuka Prasad. Based on their evidence, the court ordered an acquittal of the accused on Friday. The one man bench that gave this judgement was headed by Additional District and Sessions Judge, Puttur, M. Ramachandra.

Ramakrishna the victim was attacked by some people while on his way home on foot, accompanied by this son Vallesh. The attack took place near a temple on April 28, 2011. The administrative officer met his end on the same day at KVG hospital.

The first arrests made by the police in this case were those of Sharan and Shankara, the two hired by Renuka Prasad for the murder. These arrests were followed by the arrests of Renuka Prasad, Manoj Rai, Nagesh H R., Vamana Poojary and Nagesh Kumar. The charge sheet narrated that Renuka Prasad had feelings of animosity against Ramakrishna, because the latter enjoyed a close relationship with his brother, KV Chidanand, who looked after the workings of KVG Medical College and other institutions.

While Renuka Prasad was charged for having hired Sharan and Shankara to kill Ramkrishna, the others were charged for a murder conspiracy.