In Pursuit Of Killer, How A Police Dog Saved Woman From Domestic Abuse

In an incident that can only make us proud, a police dog detected a scene of domestic violence and saved a woman in Karnataka. The dog, Tunga-2, ran for 8 km, non-stop, in pitch darkness and heavy rainfall. She stopped near a house where a commotion led police to stop domestic violence and save the woman, Roopa, 30. The incident happened on July 17. 

As per the reports, the grocer-husband of Roopa, Rangaswamy, was furious about Roopa's extra-marital affair with 30-year-old Santosh Kumar. He allegedly killed Santosh by hitting his head with a wooden log and leaving his body at a roadside near Santebennur. 

How Tunga detected the criminal

The patrolling police found Santosh's body around 9:45 pm and the police of the Santebennur area arrived at the spot with the dog. While the police were trying to investigate the murder, Tunga-2 barked and started running. Two-year-old Tunga-2 sniffed the scent of the suspect and ran for 8 km to find Rangaswamy. Constable Shaifiulla, the dog handler, detected that Tunga-2 had sniffed the smell of the accused and trailed the dog with other cops until she stopped at Rangaswami's house. 

The story behind the murder

As per the reports, Rangaswamy had warned Roopa many times to stay away from Santosh, a mason from Channapura. Despite that, Roopa and Snatosh came closer. As a result, Rangaswamy decided to kill both. Rangaswamy launched a search for Santosh along with his two aides. He finally found him in the Santebennur area. He told police, "I stopped the bike, took a log from the roadside and hit him on the head. I saw him collapse and rushed home to kill my wife with the same log."

He first killed Santosh whom he found taking shelter under a tree due to the heavy rain. Then, he ran back home with the weapon of murder, the wooden log, to allegedly kill his wife. He beat her to the extent that Roopa was about to die. 

But thanks to Tunga-2 who joined the Canine squad last year, Roopa was saved on time. 

A policeman quoted Rangaswamy and said, “If you had not stopped me, I would have killed her like I bludgeoned her lover to death before coming here.” 

Rare case

Inspector General of Police (Eastern range) Ramesh Banoth told TOI that very rarely does a police dog avert the killing of a person. He further said that they had another police dog whom they named Tunga who died in 2022. "She had helped Davanagere police in cracking 70 murder cases. In memory of her, we had named this dog Tunga-2, confident that she would match her predecessor’s talents. And she didn’t disappoint us,” said Banoth. 

Rangaswamy has been arrested and charged with the murder of Santosh and his aides have also been detained for questioning.