Very sad and scary 'incident' involving 75 year old Australian lady in Puttaparthi
This post is about a recently discovered case of a murder of a 75 year old Australian lady in Puttaparthi. Please skip reading the rest of this post if you want to avoid such stuff. [I did not want to use the word murder in the title and so used 'incident'.] After some thought I decided to put it up in this spiritual blog instead of a miscellaneous blog as Sathya Sai devotees may want to know about this unfortunate incident and how to avoid similar incidents in future.
Over the past few days I have been seeing rather unusual 'Missing' notices showing an elderly white lady stuck in a few places in Puttaparthi. I presume that the lady mentioned below is the same as the one mentioned in these missing notices.
Yesterday I was shocked to read this article in The Hindu, Missing Australian woman’s body found, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/missing-australian-womans-body-found/article6576766.ece.
A small extract from it:
"An Australian woman, Lutgate Tony Berly Anne (75), missing since August was found murdered and buried in the outskirts Puttaparthy on Friday. Police cracked the case after arresting two persons. Anantapur Superintendent of Police S.V. Rajasekhar Babu told The Hindu that the woman was murdered by S. Bhagavantudu, a watchman of the apartment where she was staying, and his friend B. Potuliah as she had asked the former to return Rs. 20,000 of the Rs. 30,000 she had paid him for arranging accommodation for her. She wanted the amount back as she found the flat not comfortable as was promised by Bhagavantudu. The officer said the woman was strangled by the duo on August 29 in the apartment itself. They later buried the body outside Puttaparthy town with the help of a car driver, Nagaraj."
Ravi: There are multiple versions of this, with the some reports mentioning that the local Puttaparthi police are quoting a reason of the murderers wanting to rob her. However, I think the Anantapur SP (top policeman for the whole district of Anantapur of which Puttaparthi is a part) is the right official source to go by. I find the above account to be quite plausible. Some of the poor in Puttaparthi (may be from surrounding villages but could be migrants from other parts of AP too) depend on such services to foreigners and other visitors. The dangerous issue in the account above is the foreigner elderly lady demanding some money back (Rs. 20,000) from the local person (watchman). Once one gives money to these poor locals one should forget about seeing the money back. I think the poor lady committed a mistake in demanding money back from them when she did not like the flat. Perhaps she threatened to complain to the police (which is not uncommon for Western foreigners in Puttaparthi to do). That may have made the two locals desperate. Anyway, in their possible desperation they did the horrible act of killing the old lady and then tried to dispose the body. My God! All this happened in the small town (outside-ashram Puttaparthi) where I live.
The main learning from this, in my humble view, is that it is best not to fight with locals over money. Demanding money back from locals is a strict no-no. The poor in Puttaparthi are quite desperately poor. Such people can easily lose it when pushed too much. Sure the police do catch many of such criminals especially when pressure is applied. But what's the solace one can get from having these desperately poor criminals in jail? It is far better to avoid such issues in the first place and, if one does lose some money to the locals, it is best to just forget about it.
As I went out for my regular walk yesterday evening around 5.30 PM, I saw a body being cremated on the (now dry) Chitravathi river bank, which is the main cremation site in Puttaparthi, and a lot of people gathered there including some Western foreigners and a policeman. Later I was told that it was the above mentioned lady, whose body must have been exhumed and then cremated.
I browsed the net to see if there are more reports on it. I was surprised to see rather detailed coverage by some foreign media outlets. And also surprised to know that during this missing period (her being missing was noted from sometime in September) her friends & family had put up a campaign to locate her, and to put pressure on the Indian police authorities to locate her! I have given below a couple of foreign media articles on this matter.
1) Australian grandmother Toni Anne Ludgate killed while doing charity work in India, http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/australian-grandmother-toni-anne-ludgate-killed-while-doing-charity-work-in-india/story-fni0cx12-1227116994708.
A small extract from it:
Ms Ludgate’s daughter, Traci Harding, said her mother was a source of happiness to all she knew.
“She was that kind of a person, everybody’s mum, everyone was always at our place. If someone was having problems they would end up at ours,” she said.
“We’re just happy to have found her so that we can put her to rest.”
Ms Harding said her mother would be cremated in India and that the family would not be able to attend due to the short timeframe which it needed to take place.
“She was in love with the place; she had a karmic connection to it even. Considering what’s happened you’ve just got to look at that,” she said.
“She had a deep connection with this place, she wanted to end her days there – not like this obviously. She wanted an Indian burial and wanted her ashes spread at the ashram.”
[Ravi: What a tragedy! She did not have to go this way! This seems to have been an avoidable tragedy. She should not have fought with the locals over that money. She was, and I am, living in an economically backward area of India with a heck of a lot of poverty, and not in a country like Australia with its presumably far better law enforcement and public safety setup.]
------
This one, Body of grandmother missing in India for two months found in a shallow grave as police arrest security guard and two other men for her murder, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2826430/Three-men-arrested-Sydney-grandmother-missing-India-month-dead.html, has a lot of details and photos of the family and other related photos.
Her daughter, Traci Harding, is an Australian author who has a wiki page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traci_Harding.
I am filled with sadness over this tragedy.
I pray to Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba to shower His Grace on the lady's suukshma shareera (subtle body) and on the lady's family members & friends.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Today I found the following two articles which provide additional info.
This link, http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/killer-loses-nerve-mystery-of-missing-aussie-solved/99/, has a photograph of the killer-watchman pointing out the spot where he and his accomplices buried the lady's body, to the police.
A small extract from http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/11/09/hindu-funeral-ceremony-held-australian-murder-victim :
Despite the way her mother died, Ms Harding said she didn't feel any anger towards the guard [Ravi: watchman in Indian English].
"I feel sorry for him," she said.
"I'm not a seek-retribution person, it's up to the Indian authorities to decide what to do with these men."
Ms Harding gave permission to the ashram to give her mother a traditional cremation ceremony on Saturday.
--- end extract ---
Ravi: While I still feel very sad about this very avoidable tragedy over 20,000 Rupees, I do appreciate the noble and spiritually mature attitude of the lady's daughter in not seeking revenge/retribution. My belief in these matters is that the killer(s) will have to suffer the bad Karma of their acts, one way or the other.
Over the past few days I have been seeing rather unusual 'Missing' notices showing an elderly white lady stuck in a few places in Puttaparthi. I presume that the lady mentioned below is the same as the one mentioned in these missing notices.
Yesterday I was shocked to read this article in The Hindu, Missing Australian woman’s body found, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/missing-australian-womans-body-found/article6576766.ece.
A small extract from it:
"An Australian woman, Lutgate Tony Berly Anne (75), missing since August was found murdered and buried in the outskirts Puttaparthy on Friday. Police cracked the case after arresting two persons. Anantapur Superintendent of Police S.V. Rajasekhar Babu told The Hindu that the woman was murdered by S. Bhagavantudu, a watchman of the apartment where she was staying, and his friend B. Potuliah as she had asked the former to return Rs. 20,000 of the Rs. 30,000 she had paid him for arranging accommodation for her. She wanted the amount back as she found the flat not comfortable as was promised by Bhagavantudu. The officer said the woman was strangled by the duo on August 29 in the apartment itself. They later buried the body outside Puttaparthy town with the help of a car driver, Nagaraj."
Ravi: There are multiple versions of this, with the some reports mentioning that the local Puttaparthi police are quoting a reason of the murderers wanting to rob her. However, I think the Anantapur SP (top policeman for the whole district of Anantapur of which Puttaparthi is a part) is the right official source to go by. I find the above account to be quite plausible. Some of the poor in Puttaparthi (may be from surrounding villages but could be migrants from other parts of AP too) depend on such services to foreigners and other visitors. The dangerous issue in the account above is the foreigner elderly lady demanding some money back (Rs. 20,000) from the local person (watchman). Once one gives money to these poor locals one should forget about seeing the money back. I think the poor lady committed a mistake in demanding money back from them when she did not like the flat. Perhaps she threatened to complain to the police (which is not uncommon for Western foreigners in Puttaparthi to do). That may have made the two locals desperate. Anyway, in their possible desperation they did the horrible act of killing the old lady and then tried to dispose the body. My God! All this happened in the small town (outside-ashram Puttaparthi) where I live.
The main learning from this, in my humble view, is that it is best not to fight with locals over money. Demanding money back from locals is a strict no-no. The poor in Puttaparthi are quite desperately poor. Such people can easily lose it when pushed too much. Sure the police do catch many of such criminals especially when pressure is applied. But what's the solace one can get from having these desperately poor criminals in jail? It is far better to avoid such issues in the first place and, if one does lose some money to the locals, it is best to just forget about it.
As I went out for my regular walk yesterday evening around 5.30 PM, I saw a body being cremated on the (now dry) Chitravathi river bank, which is the main cremation site in Puttaparthi, and a lot of people gathered there including some Western foreigners and a policeman. Later I was told that it was the above mentioned lady, whose body must have been exhumed and then cremated.
I browsed the net to see if there are more reports on it. I was surprised to see rather detailed coverage by some foreign media outlets. And also surprised to know that during this missing period (her being missing was noted from sometime in September) her friends & family had put up a campaign to locate her, and to put pressure on the Indian police authorities to locate her! I have given below a couple of foreign media articles on this matter.
1) Australian grandmother Toni Anne Ludgate killed while doing charity work in India, http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/australian-grandmother-toni-anne-ludgate-killed-while-doing-charity-work-in-india/story-fni0cx12-1227116994708.
A small extract from it:
Ms Ludgate’s daughter, Traci Harding, said her mother was a source of happiness to all she knew.
“She was that kind of a person, everybody’s mum, everyone was always at our place. If someone was having problems they would end up at ours,” she said.
“We’re just happy to have found her so that we can put her to rest.”
Ms Harding said her mother would be cremated in India and that the family would not be able to attend due to the short timeframe which it needed to take place.
“She was in love with the place; she had a karmic connection to it even. Considering what’s happened you’ve just got to look at that,” she said.
“She had a deep connection with this place, she wanted to end her days there – not like this obviously. She wanted an Indian burial and wanted her ashes spread at the ashram.”
[Ravi: What a tragedy! She did not have to go this way! This seems to have been an avoidable tragedy. She should not have fought with the locals over that money. She was, and I am, living in an economically backward area of India with a heck of a lot of poverty, and not in a country like Australia with its presumably far better law enforcement and public safety setup.]
------
This one, Body of grandmother missing in India for two months found in a shallow grave as police arrest security guard and two other men for her murder, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2826430/Three-men-arrested-Sydney-grandmother-missing-India-month-dead.html, has a lot of details and photos of the family and other related photos.
Her daughter, Traci Harding, is an Australian author who has a wiki page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traci_Harding.
I am filled with sadness over this tragedy.
I pray to Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba to shower His Grace on the lady's suukshma shareera (subtle body) and on the lady's family members & friends.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Today I found the following two articles which provide additional info.
This link, http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/killer-loses-nerve-mystery-of-missing-aussie-solved/99/, has a photograph of the killer-watchman pointing out the spot where he and his accomplices buried the lady's body, to the police.
A small extract from http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/11/09/hindu-funeral-ceremony-held-australian-murder-victim :
Despite the way her mother died, Ms Harding said she didn't feel any anger towards the guard [Ravi: watchman in Indian English].
"I feel sorry for him," she said.
"I'm not a seek-retribution person, it's up to the Indian authorities to decide what to do with these men."
Ms Harding gave permission to the ashram to give her mother a traditional cremation ceremony on Saturday.
--- end extract ---
Ravi: While I still feel very sad about this very avoidable tragedy over 20,000 Rupees, I do appreciate the noble and spiritually mature attitude of the lady's daughter in not seeking revenge/retribution. My belief in these matters is that the killer(s) will have to suffer the bad Karma of their acts, one way or the other.
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