Bengaluru: The Karnataka police have recovered skeletal remains of a 16-year-old girl, who went missing from Shikaripura town in Shivamogga district from forests in Uttara Kannada districts and have arrested four persons in this connection.
The girl hailing from Taralaghatta village and was working in a PG accommodation at Shikaripura went missing on June 18, 2025, and the police were clueless on what happened to the girl till they recovered the skeletal remains and arrested four persons, including the owner of the PG accommodation.
According to Shivamogga Superintendent of Police B Nikhil, the skeletal remains were found from a forest near Mavinagundi in Siddapura taluk, Uttara Kannada district. The girl, hailing from Taralaghatta village in Shikaripura taluk had lost her mother and had a fight with her father. She left home, came to Shikaripura and started working in PG accommodation being run by Soubhagya, who also hails from Taralaghatta. After working for an year, she went missing and even Soughagya inquired with the girl's father if she had returned home.
After waiting for a week or so, the girl's father lodged a missing complaint with the Shikaripura police. But, the police grew suspicious about the missing girl and started collecting technical evidence of her missing circumstances. It was revealed that the girl's phone was switched off near PG accommodation from the day she went missing. The police did not get any clue about the girl leaving Shikaripura on her own.
After collecting some evidence, the police started interrogating Soubhagya, Ranjitha, who was also living in the same PG accommodation where the girl worked, her friend Ganga Naik from Ittigehalli and Periya Naik of neighbouring Nyamathi.
During the interrogation, the four confessed that the girl had a tiff with Ranjitha, who was running a beauty parlour in the neighbourhood. Learning about the tiff, Soubhagya took her to the beauty parlour and reprimanded her in front of customers. Humiliated by the incident, the girl returned to PG and committed suicide by hanging herself to the ceiling fan.
Fearing legal action, Soubhaghya and Ranjitha took help of their friend Ganga Naik, who, in turn, roped in Periya Naik and disposed of the body. They got a big bag, dumped the body inside the bag and later dumped it in Mavinagundi forests near Sirsi.
