HC upholds Bharathi Urs' acquittal in cousin's murder

The High Court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s order to acquit Bharathi Urs, daughter of former chief minister D Devaraj Urs, and her aides L N Chandrakant and T Madhukar in the murder of her lawyer cousin Chitralekha Urs in 2004.

A division bench of Justices H Billappa and K N Phaneendra dismissed the appeal filed by Chitralekha’s mother Sharada Urs and the State government against the lower court’s order. The bench stated that it found no valid reason to interfere in the order passed by the Fast-Track Sessions Court. There is not sufficient evidence against the accused and the prosecution is not complete, it noted.

Bharathi Urs, along with her aides, was accused of murdering her cousin Chitralekha Urs over some financial dispute. Chitralekha had gone missing on January 19, 2004. When she could not be reached over phone, her family filed a missing person’s complaint at the High Grounds police station. Fifty days later, the police traced the body to Shiradi Ghat in Hassan district.