Karnataka cops recover note, say probing all angles after 5 skeletons found

Police during its investigation found an undated note written in Kannada from the house where skeletons were recovered in Chitradurga district on Thursday.

Days after skeletons of five people were found inside a dilapidated house in Chitradurga district of Karnataka, police on Saturday recovered an undated and unsigned note written in Kannada from the site, with officers saying that they are probing the matter from all angles.

Police personnel stand outside the house in Chitradurga district of Karnataka on Thursday. (HT photo)

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The skeletal remains were found inside a retired civil engineer’s residence, which had remained locked for four years, on Thursday night. A local, who ventured into the seemingly abandoned building, stumbled upon a skeleton and tipped off a journalist. While four skeletons were found in the first room the officials entered, with two lying on the bed and two on the floor, the fifth was found on the floor of another room, in what officials called a “sleeping position”.

The deceased have been identified as Jagannath Reddy (80), a retired PWD engineer, his wife Premakka (72), their three children —Triveni (55), Krishna (51) and Narendra (53).

On Saturday, the police recovered a letter from the house, but refused to divulge its details.

“The matter is still in the investigation stage. We cannot disclose the contents of the handwritten note as it could hamper the investigation. Besides, we will not consider it as a suicide note as it has no signature or date,” Chitradurga superintendent of police, Dharmendra Kumar Meena, said.

A police officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the letter suggests that all five members of the family had decided to die by suicide. The letter also named two people who allegedly cheated the family in a land dispute.

On Friday, police found household items, including a calendar from 2019 and the last paid electricity bill, from the house which led them to believe that all five died in 2019, though the exact date and cause of death would only emerge after forensic examinations.

“We have verified the family’s power bills with authorities and the last bill was paid on January 13, 2019. The power supply was disconnected due to unpaid bills after that. Jagannath spent lakhs on medical expenses for his ailing wife, Premakka. The couple had four children. One of them, Manjunath died in 2014. The other two sons and daughters were unmarried,” the officer added.

Neighbours and a few acquaintances of the family have told the police that all five members of the family mostly kept to themselves, and rarely stepped out of the house.

“All of the neighbours have said that the family lived a completely secluded life. Some said that the last time they were seen was sometime between June and July 2019. The house remained locked since. Around two months ago, one of the residents of the area saw the main door was broken, but the police were not informed,” Meena told reporters on Friday.

A police officer familiar with the case said: “The family went into isolation after Jagannath Reddy’s eldest daughter had a spinal cord injury. Their woes worsened after Reddy’s second son, Manjunath Reddy, died in an accident, and another son, Narendra Reddy, got caught in a robbery case.”

The family often communicated through a window, Chitradurga city municipal council member SP Tarikeshwari said.

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Bharamappa, a carpenter who has been a neighbour of the Reddys for the last five years, said fear has gripped the whole society since the revelation. “It is not possible to imagine that there were bodies inside the house. Foul smell was coming from the house about four years ago, but we thought their dog might have died while they were away,” he said.