In a shocking case from Karnataka’s Belagavi district, a 30-year-old doctor was allegedly murdered by her in-laws at the behest of her husband after years of harassment over her inability to conceive. According to police, the victim, Dr Renuka Santosh Honakande, was killed on 18 May in a premeditated attack disguised as an accident.
Authorities revealed that Renuka’s mother-in-law, Jayashri, and father-in-law, Kamanna Honakande, initially claimed she died in a bike accident. However, investigations exposed a gruesome plot: Jayashri allegedly pushed Renuka from a moving vehicle, bludgeoned her with a stone, and Kamanna strangled her. To stage the scene, they tied her body to a bike and dragged it over 100 metres to simulate an accident.
Belagavi Superintendent of Police Bhimashankar Guled stated that suspicions arose when only Renuka sustained fatal injuries while her in-laws remained unharmed. Under interrogation, the couple confessed and implicated their son, Santosh Honakande, a mechanical engineer based in Maharashtra’s Satara, as the mastermind. Married in 2020, the couple had been estranged for years, with relatives citing disputes over Renuka’s fertility.
Police discovered Santosh had secretly remarried while still legally wed to Renuka, and his second wife is reportedly pregnant—a potential motive. Renuka’s family alleges prolonged dowry harassment and mental cruelty, with relatives claiming she endured taunts about her "memory problems" and infertility but never returned to her parental home.
A case has been registered for murder and dowry harassment, with all three accused in custody. Postmortem confirmed homicide, and Renuka’s last rites were performed in her hometown, Vijayapura. The case has sparked outrage over gender-based violence and societal pressures on childless women.
