Mandya: A 28-year-old man has been arrested on charges of murdering a woman at Karoti village of KR Pet taluk. The accused is Puneeth, while the victim is 36-year-old Preethi, a mother of two from Hosakoppalu in Hassan district.According to police, the two met just days earlier via social media. On Sunday, Puneeth drove to Hassan to meet Preethi, and the duo spent the day travelling around Mandya. Later, they went to the secluded Katteraghatta forest area, where an altercation led Puneeth allegedly to strangle her, police added.After the murder, Puneeth shifted the body to his farmland in Karoti and hid it there along with her jewellery. In a bid to mislead the victim’s family, he answered a call from Preethi’s husband and claimed she had left her cellphone in his car. He then travelled to Channarayapatna and gave the gadget to her husband, police said.When Preethi did not return home, her husband filed a missing-person complaint at Hassan police station on Monday. Acting swiftly on an alert on a suspicious body in a farmland, Kikkeri police, led by inspector Revathi, visited the place on Wednesday morning and questioned Puneeth. Later, police arrested Puneeth, and recovered the jewellery. A case has been registered at Kikkeri police station.
