KOPPAL: After more than two decades on the run, a 75-year-old man wanted for the murder of his third wife has finally been arrested in Karnataka. Hanumanth Husenappa, accused of killing his wife in 2002 and attempting to dispose of her body on a public bus, was nabbed by police in Gangavati town, Koppal district, on Wednesday.
According to PSI Prakash Mali, Hanumanth, originally from Raichur district, was working as a junior assistant at a government primary health centre in Badarli at the time of the crime. Having lost his first wife and separated from his second, he had married Renukamma, a woman from Koppal taluk. The couple lived together in the Lakshmi Camp area of Gangavati.
Police say Hanumanth fatally stabbed Renukamma following a domestic dispute. In a chilling attempt to cover up the crime, he allegedly stuffed her body into a gunny bag and placed it on a KSRTC bus bound for Kampli in Ballari district.
“The bus driver and conductor became suspicious about the contents of the bag and drove directly to the Gangavathi police station to report it,” said PSI Mali.
By the time police began their investigation, Hanumanth had already vanished without a trace. For 23 years, he evaded arrest by living like a drifter, changing locations and avoiding contact with anyone who might alert authorities.
It was a tip-off that finally led police to his native village of Haladhal, where he was found and taken into custody.
His arrest closes one of the longest-pending murder cases in the region and serves as a reminder, police said, that justice may be delayed but not denied.
