CRPF trooper shoots dead 3 relatives in Dharwad

BANGALORE - A Central Reserve Police Force trooper on furlough Monday shot dead three relatives, including two children, in Dharwad in north Karnataka, police said.

The dead are Yellappa Koravar, 35, and his two children, Somappa, six, and Aishwarya, five, a spokesperson of the Kundgol police station where the case been registered told IANS on phone. Kundgol is about 450 km from here.

The third child of Yellappa, nine-year-old Madan was shot at and injured when he tried to escape. He has been admitted to a government hospital in Dharwad. He is out of danger.

Yellappa’s wife managed to escape, the spokesperson said.

The trooper, Shankrappa Thippanna Koravar, 23, is absconding and a search is on to nab him, he said.

“He shot them with a pistol. We are probing from where he acquired it,” the spokesperson said.

Quoting relatives, he said the trooper, who was posted in Jammu and Kashmir, got married three months back and a few days later had gone back to duty.

“It was a love marriage. The girl, about 19, is from Hubli, Dharwad’s twin city. Apparently when Koravar went to Hubli to fetch her, she refused to go with him. Koravar sought Yellappa’s assistance as he had helped him get married,” the spokesperson said.

“We do not what happened at the meeting and what made Koravar fly into a rage and shoot the family. The incident took place between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. Monday,” the spokesperson said.