Udupi (Nov 22): A minor domestic misunderstanding had made Baba alias Babananda of Koityaru in Perdoor in the taluk walk out of the house some years ago. Ever since, many things have happened behind his back and without his knowledge. One of them, to his utter horror, is that his wife declared him dead not long after he left the house.
Baba poured out his version of the episode at a media meet at the Press Club here on Monday, November 21. He had married Sunanda eighteen years ago and had two children. Some years later, a marital discord crept in and the case landed at the Hiriyadka police station. After a compromise was struck, the complaint was withdrawn.
However, when Baba came home, Sunanda, instigated by a few others, is said to have given him mental agony, with even a threat to his life, and had him thrown out of the house. He went over to Mumbai to earn a livelihood.
A ‘plot’ to grab the plot
Thereafter, Baba alleged, Sunanda took the help of her friend Lalitamba, who is a former functionary of the Dharmasthala rural development project, and hatched a plan to grab his property.
As coincidence would have it, a dead body had been found near the Perampalli railway station and the news had appeared with photograph in the newspapers.
Sunanda, according to Baba, with an aim to grab his property and other benefits, took advantage of this case. With the aid of a few acquaintances, she claimed it to be of her husband’s for final rites and even obtained a certificate of death.
Land and insurance money pocketed
When the news of the body being identified as of Baba appeared in the newspapers, he was shocked. On November 9, 2009 he wrote to his wife, the Hiriyadka police and Perdoor gram panchayat stating and asserting that he had not died but was very much alive.
But, in the meantime, Sunanda, using Lalitamba’s clout and contacts, is said to have claimed from the LIC Rs 25,000 being the benefits of the insurance policy of her ‘dead’ husband, besides getting the 9-cent plot transferred to her name.
‘Dead’ man talking!
On hearing of this, Babananda filed a private complaint in a court in Udupi on October 7, 2011 against Sunanda and Lalitamba, and also against three others, as alleged by him, who conspired with her – Prakash Shetty, N K Ramachandrayya and Sadashiva. The court, on October 12, 2011, ordered them to be produced before it. But the police have failed to take action, he alleged.
As such, he said that injustice had been done to him. He urged that he be given back the ownership of the property and the insurance benefit wrongly claimed by his wife by declaring him, the policy-holder, as having died. He has sought action against his estranged wife and all the persons who instigated her and supported her in this fraudulent act.
Perdoor gram panchayat member Dinesh Hegde and Suresh Marakala were present at the media meet
