Mysuru lodge horror: Gold, cash vanish in Kerala, then woman's murder with explosive | 10 chilling updates

Siddaraju, 22, was arrested for the alleged murder of 20-year-old Rakshita in Mysuru, Karnataka. He reportedly planned the crime weeks in advance.

A 22-year-old man was arrested for allegedly murdering a 20-year-old woman by stuffing an explosive device in her mouth at a lodge in Karnataka’s Mysuru district, police said. The accused, identified as Siddaraju, allegedly planned the killing weeks in advance.

The victim, Rakshita alias Darshitha and the accused, identified as Siddaraju,

The victim, Rakshita alias Darshitha, a resident of Hunsur in Karnataka, had been married for 10 years to AP Subash, a bus driver working in Dubai. The couple have a two-year-old daughter. Police said she had been in a relationship with Siddaraju, a distant relative and hardware shop salesman, for nearly seven years, Hindustan Times earlier reported.

10 key developments in Mysuru murder case:

1. According to investigators, Darshitha and Siddaraju checked into a lodge in Bherya village of Saligrama taluk on August 23. Minutes later, Siddaraju rushed to the lobby, claiming that the woman had injured herself and needed to be taken to hospital. When lodge staff entered the room, they found her lying in a pool of blood.
2. Police said the accused initially tried to mislead them by claiming that her mobile phone had exploded while charging, but later confessed to using explosives.
3. A senior officer said Siddaraju, who had experience handling quarry explosives, used an old charger to fashion a crude device almost a month before the crime. “He knows how detonators function,” the officer added.
4. Police believe the relationship had soured over the past five years and that Darshitha, who had lent him ₹80,000, was pressuring him to return the money. She was also planning to move to Dubai to join her husband.
5. The case has also taken a Kerala turn. A day before the murder, Darshitha’s mother-in-law, KC Sumathi, reported that 30 sovereigns of gold and ₹4–5 lakh cash were missing from their home in Kannur.
6. “The complainant said around 30 sovereigns of gold and ₹4 lakh cash were found to be missing from their home on the evening of August 22. Darshitha had left the home on the morning of August 22, stating that she was going to her maternal home near Hunsur in Karnataka. Police officers reached Hunsur, but did not find her,” the officer said.
7. When she returned from work, she found the house unlocked and deserted. Calls to Rakshita’s phone went unanswered, and at one point, a male voice picked up and disconnected, relatives told police. The daughter-in-law was later found safe at her parents’ home.
8. The family had no idea about her relationship with Siddaraju. But she has been frequently going home in recent months,” The Indian Express quoted a relative as saying.
9. The Irikkur police, who were informed about the disappearance and missing gold, started tracing them, but were informed on Sunday about Darshitha’s murder and the arrest of Siddaraju, it said.
10. A Karnataka Police officer said they had not found any valuables at the lodge nor at the woman’s parents’ house, where she had left her daughter.

(With inputs from Coovercolly Indresh and Vishnu Varma)