Man Freed from Jail After ‘Dead’ Wife Found with Boyfriend in Kodagu

In 2020, Suresh, a tribal resident of Basavanahundi in Kodagu's Kushalnagar taluk, reported his wife Mallige missing.

Mysuru: In a shocking twist to a case that led to the imprisonment of an innocent man for nearly two years, a woman who had been presumed murdered by her husband in Kodagu has been found alive and living with her male companion.

The revelation was brought to light by advocate Pandu Pujari, who narrated the sequence of events at a press conference in Mysuru. He urged authorities to take corrective action and compensate his client, Suresh, who suffered both incarceration and alleged police brutality for a crime he did not commit.

The case dates back to 2020 when Suresh, a tribal resident of Basavanahundi in Kushalnagar taluk of Kodagu, reported that his wife, Mallige, the mother of their two children, had gone missing. He promptly filed a missing person’s complaint with the Kushalnagar rural police.

Around the same period, Bettadapura police in the neighbouring Periyapatna taluk of Mysuru district discovered a woman’s skeletal remains. Preliminary investigation suggested she had died from a head injury. Suspecting Mallige’s fidelity and presuming the body to be hers, the Bettadapura police arrested Suresh, charging him with murder.

Although a DNA test was commissioned, using a sample from Mallige’s mother, Gowri, the police went ahead and filed the chargesheet before the test results were received. When the DNA report finally arrived, it indicated no match between the skeleton and Gowri’s blood sample—raising doubts over the identity of the deceased.

Despite mounting evidence, including testimony from Mallige’s mother and local villagers who claimed she had eloped with a man named Ganesh, the Bettadapura and Kushalnagar police stations continued to maintain that the remains belonged to Mallige and persisted in accusing Suresh.

Mallige with her friend in Madikeri.

Advocate Pujari, who secured Suresh’s release on bail through the High Court, pushed for his client’s discharge, citing the DNA report and other witness accounts. However, the case took a dramatic turn on April 1, 2025, when one of Suresh’s friends spotted Mallige dining at a hotel in Madikeri alongside Ganesh. He immediately notified Suresh, who relayed the information to Pujari. Following legal directions, local police traced Mallige and presented her in court in Mysuru on April 2.

During the court hearing, Mallige admitted to having voluntarily left her marital home and had been residing with Ganesh in Shettihalli village, about 20 km from Madikeri. Her statement cleared Suresh of the murder allegations and threw the spotlight back on the real identity of the woman whose skeleton was found five years ago.

"This case exposes serious lapses in police investigation," said advocate Pujari. "We now demand a thorough probe to identify the deceased woman and ensure justice is served." He questioned whether Suresh had been framed to quickly close the unidentified death case.

Meanwhile, Suresh spoke out about the trauma he endured while in custody. “The police stripped me, hung me up, and gave me electric shocks until I confessed,” he alleged.

Suresh, who is around 40 years old, had been married to Mallige, 38, for about 18 years. Their children, now teenagers, were left to grapple with the fallout of a broken home and a falsely accused father.

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