Bengaluru: A local court Tuesday sentenced a 58-year-old former gram panchayat member and her three children to life imprisonment. They were found guilty of pouring kerosene on their neighbour in Oct 2013 before setting her ablaze and attempting to murder her brother when he tried to rescue her.Judge Siddalinga Prabhu from the Ist Additional District and Sessions Court slapped a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on the four convicts, said public prosecutor Suryanarayana MB.The convicted are M Munitayamma and her children — M Manjunath, 32, M Murali, 34 and S Roopa, 37, residents of Doddabyaladakere in Soladevanahalli, Bengaluru North taluk. The murdered victim was N Ravikala, 30, a homemaker and mother of two children. Her brother, A Ravikumar, who survived the attack, filed a police complaint and became a key witness. Ravikumar’s wife, Anu, who was five months pregnant at the time of the incident, became another important witness and made a vital deposition during the trial, Suryanarayana said.What happened in 2013The horrific murder unfolded on the night of Oct 25, 2013, when the accused poured kerosene on Ravikala and set her ablaze. They were neighbours and regularly fought over different issues, police said. That day, the fight escalated when Munitayamma, along with her children, forced Ravikala into her house and beat her up soundly.“Neighbours called Ravi Kumar, who lived in the same area. By the time he arrived, the accused had poured kerosene on Ravikala, and one of them struck a matchstick. Ravi rushed to save his sister but was hit by a wooden log on the head and lost consciousness. The accused locked the house from outside with Ravikala still on fire and Kumar lying unconscious. By then, Anu had come near the house and, realising what had happened, shouted for help. Other neighbours broke open the door and shifted Ravikala and Ravi to hospital. However, Ravikala died of burns,” said the chargesheet filed by the police team led by then inspector HY Jagadish.“During the trial, Munitayamma argued that she and her children stood outside the house when Ravikala set herself on fire with kerosene kept inside her residence. But we established that Ravikala never had kerosene because she didn’t have a BPL card. Further, there were burn marks with kerosene on the clothes of all four accused, which was confirmed by Forensic Science Laboratory reports later,” Suryanarayana said.
