In a rare legal precedent, a Bengaluru court on Monday sentenced two men to life imprisonment for the 2021 kidnapping and murder of a 47-year-old widow, despite her body never being recovered. The convicts, Noor Ahmed S and Satyanarayana alias Satya, both from Mantralayam in Andhra Pradesh, were found guilty of plotting a contract killing over a property dispute and disposing of the victim’s body in a canal. Public prosecutor Shailaja Nayak highlighted the significance of the verdict, noting that murder convictions without the recovery of the victim’s body remain uncommon.

The victim, Seetha Achar, lived alone in Rajajinagar after her husband’s death. A dispute arose over family property in Mantralayam, which Seetha refused to sell despite other family members wanting to dispose of the land. Seetha was also in debt. One of the accused approached her with an offer to clear her debts if she agreed to sell her share. When she refused, a plot was allegedly hatched to eliminate her. On March 26, 2021, the accused lured Seetha out of Bengaluru on the pretext of taking her to Hassan to buy jewellery. They instead poisoned her with cyanide and later drove to Hosapete, where they allegedly dumped her body into a canal.

Her brother, Venkatesh Achar, initially approached Kurnool police, suspecting those interested in the property. He later filed a missing-person complaint with Subramanya Nagar police in Bengaluru. The case remained unsolved for seven months until Subramanya Nagar police traced Seetha’s final movements through call detail records. The investigation uncovered an alleged contract killing involving four men — Noor Ahmed, Satyanarayana, Mental Raghu and Kumara. Raghu and Kumara died of health complications before the trial. During interrogation, the accused allegedly confessed to poisoning Seetha with cyanide and dumping her body in Hosapete canal. Extensive searches, however, failed to recover her remains.

The defence sought to challenge the prosecution’s case by producing witnesses who claimed to have seen Seetha alive after March 2021. Prosecutor Shailaja Nayak challenged their accounts during cross-examination. One witness, Madappa, claimed he had seen Seetha at a local panchayat office in Mantralayam on Jan 26, 2022. Nayak questioned how the govt office could have been functioning on Republic Day, a national holiday. Another witness, Gattu Inayatulla, claimed to have seen Seetha in Feb 2022. Cross-examination established that he was the brother-in-law of Noor Ahmed. The prosecution questioned why he had not informed police or court that Seetha was alive while his relative was facing trial for her murder.

Public prosecutor Shailaja Nayak said she has received threats from the convicts following the verdict. “They are threatening me and other witnesses repeatedly. They are also making negative comments about the court’s order,” she said. The case resulted in a murder conviction despite the victim’s remains never being recovered. The court also imposed a fine of ₹30,000 on each of the two convicted men. The other two accused, Raghu alias Mental Raghu and Bestakumar, died during the pendency of the proceedings.