Karnataka murder mystery: Did woman murder doctor husband and stab 8-year-old son?

Blood splattered on the walls. Bodies, including that of a minor, are lying in separate rooms. A shocked woman is sitting in a pool of blood. When cops arrived at the residence of Dr Kiran Honannavar, a 45-year-old anaesthesiologist, in Karnataka’s Dharwad on Wednesday (July 15), this was the scene that they witnessed.

Now, the authorities have taken Honannavar’s wife, Priyanka, into custody for questioning as they investigate the gruesome murder of the doctor and the stabbing of their eight-year-old son, who is admitted to the hospital with multiple wounds.

As investigations continue, here’s what we know about the case so far.

>> Dr Kiran Honannavar, the deceased, worked as an anaesthesiologist at Dharwad’s Chirayu Hospital. He lived with his wife, Priyanka, and their eight-year-old son on the sixth floor of Ranka Stello Apartment on Karnatak University Road in Dharwad, Karnataka.

More from Explainers

>> Dr Kiran’s wife, Priyanka Kattanahalli, is also an MBBS graduate with an MS in Ophthalmology.

>> On Wednesday, the police arrived at Dr Kiran’s residence, where they encountered a gruesome scene. The 45-year-old’s body was found in a room of their residence. As they proceeded further inside the house, they found the couple’s son in another room, with multiple stab wounds.

>> What was even more shocking was that they found the deceased’s wife, Priyanka, sitting amid the bodies in a state of shock. An India Today report notes that she was seen scrolling through her phone while the bodies of her husband and son lay in pools of blood.

>> The police noticed the injured child was still breathing and rushed him to the hospital, where he is battling for his life.

>> The authorities have said that the crime came to light after Dr Kiran’s relatives repeatedly tried to contact him through Tuesday evening and Wednesday. The family members told the police that when they called him, Priyanka answered the phone, telling them initially that he was resting and later that he had gone out on duty.

>> When he remained unreachable until evening, family members visited the apartment and saw the bloody scenes in the house.

>> Describing the scene, Hubballi-Dharwad Police Commissioner N Shashikumar said police found Dr Kiran lying dead in a pool of blood in one of the rooms. The eight-year-old boy had also suffered stab injuries, he added. “We are yet to ascertain during the investigation when exactly the child was attacked. Since he was still alive, we shifted him to the hospital immediately,” he said.

>> The police are now trying to determine the sequence of events and the motive for the killing. Officials said the incident appears to have arisen from a domestic dispute, though they stressed that the exact motive was yet to be established.

>> They also noted that there were no signs of any other person inside the apartment. There’s also no indication that the family was in any conflict with the neighbours.

>> According to the investigators, Dr Kiran’s wife, Priyanka, is in a state of shock and is currently making inconsistent and unusual statements.

>> Some of Kiran’s relatives have accused Priyanka of the murder. However, police have not confirmed her involvement and said the investigation remains ongoing.

>> “We will conduct a detailed investigation to determine what exactly happened, whom she spoke to, what she told them, and the sequence of events inside the apartment,” the commissioner was quoted as saying, adding that a murder case has been registered, and the investigation is underway.

With inputs from agencies