Mysuru: A middle-aged man allegedly fed up with his wife’s “puritanism”, or conservatism, killed her and then committed suicide in Mysuru on Tuesday. The deceased, 40-year-old Shanthamurthy was married to his wife Puttamani, 38, for the last 15 years.
Neighbours and relatives of the deceased claim Puttamani’s husband killed her as she was a staunch follower of puritanism.
“I have never seen a person like Puttamani in my life,” Shanthamurthy’s neighbour, Prabhu Swamy, told News18. “For the last eight years, she used to follow blind beliefs to the core. We were afraid to step inside her house as she would demand we take a bath before entering.”
Puttamani allegedly used to bathe their children, aged seven and 12, several times a day and would even wash “currency notes” given by her husband.
“Have you ever seen a person washing cash and drying them? Puttamani used to do that, because she thought the currency notes were defiled and touched by persons belonging to different castes and religions,” explained a relative, Rajashekhar.
He said that Shanthamurthy had spoken to him about his wife’s absurd behaviour on several occasions.
“She would torture in the name of puritanism. Even the children fell ill because of repeated baths,” said Rajashekhar. “Puttamani had made it mandatory to take a bath if they go to the toilet, feed cattle or if they touched someone else. This was the reason they used to fight a lot among themselves.”
Shanthamurthy’s patience appeared to have worn off on Tuesday when, after a heated argument on their farm, he axed Puttamani with a machete. He later headed back home and hanged himself.
Nobody knew that Shanthamurthy killed his wife and committed suicide until their children returned home from school. After seeing their father hanging from the ceiling, the children rushed to the neighbours for help. Shanthamurthy by then was dead and when they searched for Puttamani, they found her body at the farm.
Another neighbour, identified as Prabhu Swamy, claimed the duo had been fighting since morning on Tuesday. Swamy said he overheard Puttamani again and again asking Shanthamurthy to take a bath. Later in the day, he returned home after selling paddy in the market and handed over the money, after which Puttamani washed the cash and hung it out to dry.
Swamy said he had witnessed this entire incident. "Shanthamurthy looked angry after she washed his hard-earned money. Later, I left and to my shock they both aren’t alive anymore. Her stupidity on puritanism is to be blamed," he added.
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