Dead man comes alive only to get arrested: Haveri police crack sensational bus fire accident case

Ranebennur KSRTC depot bus fire was not an accident but a planned murder   Security guard killed his uncle Channappa Belagutti and burnt him in the bus He went missing and roamed about Goa, Hubli and Mumbai Reason for murder Channappa's illicit relationship and misbehaviour  

The Haveri police have cracked a bus fire accident case in which a man who was presumed to be dead in the accident was in fact the killer and the incident was not an accident but a pre-planned murder. 

According to Kannada Prabha, it was presumed that the charred body found in a KSRTC bus at the Magodu depot - on January 1, 2017 - was of Lingaraja Belaguthi (40). But the actually the deceased was Channappa Basavanneppa, who is Lingaraja's uncle. According to the district police superintendent of police Parashuram K, Lingaraj was allegedly frustrated with his uncle Channappa who was allegedly having an affair with Lingaraja's wife and aunt. Despite warning him to stay away from them, Channappa continued his ways. This reportedly angered Lingaraja and he conspired to kill him, reports Kannada Prabha quoting the police officer. On December 31, Lingaraja and his uncle Channappa shared a drink at Harihar. Later, Lingaraja took Channappa in his bike to the Magodu depot in the night and killed him. Later, he put his body in a bus and took out the diesel and poured on the body before setting it on fire. Later, he had gone absconding in Hubballi, Goa and Mumbai. 

In fact, the police presumed that Lingaraja who was the security at the bus depot was the deceased and the KSRTC officials had granted his wife the job on compassion grounds. However, after seven and half months Linagaraja resurfaced in his home town and claimed that he had knocked down a member of a diesel thief gang in the bus and had later set the body on fire. He also made everyone believe that he was kidnapped and finally managed to escape from the kidnappers. 

However, on interrogation, he confessed to the police that he had indeed killed his uncle and burnt the body along with the bus. The reason for killing was the illicit relationship of Channappa Belagutti with Lingaraja’s mother’s sister and also his misbehaviour of with Lingaraja’s wife.