Missing wife of Karnataka MLA found dead in flat

Padmapriya, The wife of K. Raghupathi Bhat, a two-time BJP legislator from Udipi in Karnataka, was found dead at a flat in southwest Delhi on Sunday. She had gone missing six days ago from her home state, the police said.

Padmapriya’s body was found hanging from the ceiling. The door of the room was locked and a Kannad news channel was playing on television when the body was found, the police said. “It is a clear case of suicide,” said Shalini Singh, DCP (southwest). However, no suicide note was found, said an officer.

It was not clear whose flat it was and what she was doing there. Karnataka Home Minister V.S. Acharya and Padmapriya’s husband Bhat landed in Delhi along with Padmapriya’s brother on Sunday to identify the body, which has been sent for inquest proceedings.

Padmapriya drove out of the pilgrim town of Udipi in her Wagon R car on June 10 to visit her mother at Karnad in neighbouring Dakshina Kannada district. Her mother lodged a missing complaint four days later.

The Karnataka Police, which initially suspected that Naxalites had kidnapped her, combed the Kunjagiri Hills after they found her abandoned car there with blood stains, broken pieces of bangles, some cash and her mobile phone without the SIM card.

A Karnataka Police team reached the flat in Kshama Apartments in Sector 10, Dwarka, on Sunday following a tip-off. An officer said nobody responded from inside initially and they had to return with a Delhi Police team some time later. “We broke open the door. Padmapriya’s body was hanging from a hook. The television was switched on,” said an officer.

The police said the Bhats own a private firm, Hiranya Finance, in Udipi. Padmapriya visited the office of this firm hours before she went missing.