In November 2020, 35-year-old Suresh reported his wife Mallige missing after 18 years of marriage in Kodagu district, Karnataka, India. In June 2021, local police recovered an unidentified skeleton and nearby clothing in a desolate area. Based solely on Mallige's mother identifying the clothing and without conducting DNA verification, police arrested Suresh for Mallige's murder. Suresh remained in custody unable to secure legal representation until Mysore advocate B.S. Pandu Pujari took up his defense in 2022 and petitioned for DNA testing. On September 27, 2023, DNA results proved the skeleton was not Mallige. Although the High Court granted Suresh bail in October 2023, he remained in prison until October 2024 because his family could not initially raise the ₹1 lakh bond. Upon release, Suresh continued urging police to locate his missing wife and disclosed he suspected she had eloped with another man. On April 1, 2025, Suresh's friends spotted Mallige alive at a local coffee shop and recorded video evidence. Police traced her to a residence 30 kilometers away where she was living with her partner. Mallige confirmed she had voluntarily left her family and was unaware of her husband's arrest. Police subsequently petitioned the court to dismiss all charges against Suresh, and the court ordered an investigation into official negligence by police officers.
Country: India
State/Province: Karnataka, India
City/Region: Kodagu
Incident Type: Missing Person / Presumed Homicide
Relationship Status: Married
Relationship Duration: 18 years
Incident Date: Nov. 1, 2020
Relationship Origins:
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Relationship Outcomes:
How the relationship or connection began.
18 years
Important relationship phases recorded for this case.
Reported red flags or early concern points.
Contributing factors and possible motives from the available sources.
2020-11-01
Recorded relationship or case outcome.
English labels are shown first. Original-language titles are preserved for source verification.
Crime Tak - India
Infidelity
The case involves a voluntary spousal abandonment driven by an extramarital affair, which was misconstrued by law enforcement as a domestic homicide. The husband initially withheld information regarding his wife's extramarital relationship out of concern for social stigma and family reputation. Law enforcement rushed to attribute a discovered skeleton to the missing wife based on superficial visual identification of nearby clothing, ignoring standard forensic protocols. The pattern reflects significant systemic investigative failure paired with personal concealment surrounding marital infidelity.
The Kushalnagar Rural Police arrested Suresh in June 2021 without conducting DNA analysis on the recovered skeletal remains. Advocate B.S. Pandu Pujari intervened in 2022 and obtained High Court approval for DNA matching against the mother-in-law, which returned negative on September 27, 2023. Following Mallige's live appearance in April 2025, police filed a court petition to drop all homicide charges against Suresh. The court initiated a departmental inquiry against the local Superintendent of Police and Station House Officer for investigative misconduct and ordered an inquiry into the true identity of the recovered skeleton.
Police incorrectly assumed the recovered skeleton belonged to Mallige based solely on her mother's identification of discarded clothing items. Investigators failed to obtain DNA evidence prior to filing murder charges and ignored Suresh's claims of innocence and lack of motive. Additionally, Suresh withheld knowledge of his wife's extramarital affair during his initial missing person report to avoid social defamation, which further complicated early police efforts.
After Mallige disappeared in November 2020, Suresh filed a formal missing person report. In June 2021, the discovery of a skeleton led police to link her case file hastily without scientific verification. Suresh was charged and jailed for murder until defense counsel secured DNA testing in late 2023, proving the remains were unrelated. After Suresh was released on bail in October 2024, he persistent in prompting police to search for Mallige, eventually revealing her affair. On April 1, 2025, chance observation by acquaintances at a coffee shop led to Mallige's location in a nearby town, confirming she had eloped voluntarily.
The primary risk factors in this case stemmed from procedural incompetence and judicial system barriers rather than physical danger to the subjects. The husband suffered severe social isolation and prolonged wrongful imprisonment due to police negligence and an unaffordable financial bail requirement. The missing spouse lived undetected 30 kilometers away without immediate physical threat to any party.
Mandatory scientific forensic testing, such as DNA identification, is essential before instituting homicide charges on unidentified human remains. Heavy financial bail requirements can result in unlawful prolonged detention for indigent individuals even after receiving judicial bail. Personal concerns over social stigma can lead family members to withhold critical relationship background details during missing person inquiries.
The primary early signal was Mallige's sudden disappearance in November 2020 after 18 years of marriage, coupled with Suresh's immediate filing of a missing person report and consistent cooperation with law enforcement.
Key clues included Suresh's insistence that the clothing found near the skeleton did not match his wife's usual attire, the defense counsel's discovery that no DNA testing had been conducted, and mobile video footage recorded by acquaintances at a local coffee shop in April 2025.
The decisive evidence was the negative DNA matching report from September 27, 2023, which disproved the skeleton's identity as Mallige, and the physical production of Mallige alive before the magistrate in April 2025.
Mallige's mother stated to police that the saree and clothing recovered near the skeleton belonged to her daughter. Mallige later testified before the magistrate that she had voluntarily left her husband and children to live with another man and was completely unaware that Suresh had been imprisoned for her presumed murder.
Follow-up investigative actions completely overturned the original murder case. DNA testing established that the skeleton belonged to an unknown third party, and Mallige's location in April 2025 confirmed no homicide had occurred, prompting legal proceedings against responsible police officials.
The identity of the individual whose skeletal remains were found in June 2021 and the circumstances of that person's death remain unresolved and subject to court-ordered police investigation.