Mysuru, Sep 12 : A shocking incident of a woman killing her husband and falsely claiming he died in a tiger attack to seek compensation money was reported from Mysuru district of Karnataka on Friday.

The incident took place in Chikkahejjur village in Hunsuru taluk of the district. The accused wife has been identified as Sallapuri, and the deceased husband is 45-year-old Venkataswamy. Police investigation revealed that the woman had poisoned her husband and later confessed that she killed him to obtain the hefty compensation provided by the government for deaths caused by wild animal attacks.

The police stated that the couple worked as labourers in areca nut fields. On Monday, a tiger was sighted in the Hejjur village. The accused claimed that her husband went missing and that the tiger might have killed him and dragged the body away to an undisclosed location.

The police and forest department sleuths launched a joint operation to track Venkataswamy's body. Since it was raining, the sleuths could not detect any tracks in the area where the deceased was last seen, as claimed by the woman. While searching in the vicinity of Venkataswamy's house, they found his body hidden in a cow dung pile behind the house.

After grilling the wife, Sallapuri confessed to the murder. She stated that her motive was to claim the hefty government compensation provided for deaths due to wild animal attacks.

The accused wife, Sallapuri, had conspired to kill her husband, taking advantage of rumours about a tiger roaming in Hejjur village, said the official.

In her statement, she claimed that she heard the roar of a tiger nearby, and at that moment, her husband had gone out of the house. The accused accompanied the forest and police teams into the forest area located close to her home.

When the sleuths could not find the body, they grew suspicious and launched a search operation around the house. The woman later confessed that she had killed her husband by poisoning his food and then dragged the body to the backside of the house, where she hid it in a pile of cow dung.

She also admitted that while working at the areca nut farm, she overheard a conversation stating that the government provides Rs 15 lakh as compensation for victims of wild animal attacks, which prompted her to plan the murder. The incident was reported by Hunasuru Rural Police Station, and further investigations are ongoing.

/IANS