An undertrial at Udupi District Prison located at Hiriyadkka died on Sunday.
The police said that the undertrial Sadananda Sherigar, 54, attempted to kill himself in front of other inmates in the jail who tried to save him. But he died on the way to hospital in the morning. The post mortem of the body was conducted later.
He hailed from Maala in Karkala taluk of Udupi district. The police had arrested him in July on charges of faking his death by immolating a man of his age (a different person) in a car to avoid by getting arrested in a forged land document case.
The deceased worked as a licensed land surveyor. He was facing charges of preparing a fake sketch of a land site by showing a road attached to it when in reality, there was no road attached to the site. Hence, the Karkala police had booked a forgery case against him. Later, a court had summoned him to appear before it by issuing a warrant.
Hence, the police said, fearing his arrest, he had staged his own murder near Henuberu, Byndoor on July 13, 2022. After picking up a man, identified as one Anand of Karkala, of his age in a car from Karkala to Byndoor, he allegedly made Anand drink alcohol mixed with sleeping tablets. Later, the car was allegedly set ablaze while Anand was sleeping inside. This, according to the police, was done to fake Sherigar’s death to avoid arrest.
Besides Sherigar, the police had arrested three more persons – Shilpa, 40, from Hirgana, Sathish, 50, and Nithin, 40, both residents of Shirva, in this connection. Sathish and Nithin had been arrested for tampering with evidence in the murder case.
(Those in distress or those having suicidal tendencies can call Arogya Sahayavani Ph.: 104 for help.)
