When Swami Shraddhananda was sentenced to death by a Bangalore trial court on May 21, the self-proclaimed godman's supernatural powers proved more than defunct. Nearly 20 years ago, Shakereh Khaleeli had thought otherwise. So much so that the beautiful granddaughter of Mirza Ismail, former dewan of the princely state of Mysore, had abandoned her husband and four daughters to marry him. She paid for it when Shraddhananda buried her alive in 1991, rocking Bangalore as much as it did the family.

PICTURE SPEAK

KILLER INSTINCT: Shraddhananda has appealed against the sentence

Sentenced by sessions judge B.S. Thotad for killing Khaleeli, Shraddhananda, alias Murli Manohar Mishra, has also been awarded a five-year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 under Section 201 of the IPC. Unfazed, the 63-year-old has appealed against the death penalty-subject to confirmation from the Karnataka High Court-on grounds of old age and health problems.

But for Khaleeli's family, justice has been served, even if it has come 11 years too late. "We cannot get our mother back but he has been awarded the death sentence and that is what matters to us," says Sabah, one of Khaleeli's daughters, who is settled in Mumbai. "After 11 years of pain and torture, we can go back to living normal lives," adds Ezmeth, the youngest.

There has been nothing normal about the case, be it the nature of the crime or its progress in court. Among the first to employ DNA technology for evidence, "it was also the first case in India where the exhumation of the body was videographed and the court accepted it as evidence", says H.T. Sangliana, former Bangalore police commissioner and currently a Lok Sabha MP, who helped arrest the fake godman from Madhya Pradesh.

2005 On May 21, Shraddhananda (left) is sentenced to death for killing Khaleeli. 1994 On April 30, the swami is held after his servant's confession. 1992 On June 10, Khaleeli's daughter files a police complaint. 1991 In March, Shraddhananda drugs his wife and buries her alive. 1986 Khaleeli marries the swami after divorcing her husband in 1985. 1982 The Khaleelis meet Shraddhananda in Delhi for the first time.

Shraddhananda lured Khaleeli with an eye on her wealth and property worth crores of rupees. While Khaleeli's mother, Taj Namazi, had gifted her property in Bangalore, including a house on Richmond Road, her affluence increased when she married her cousin, Akbar Khaleeli, an Indian diplomat. In the early 1980s, life seemed to be on a roll with Khaleeli accompanying her husband on his overseas postings along with her four daughters Sabah, Ezmeth, Rehana and Zeebundeh.

Then in 1982 the family came across Shraddhananda at the house of a common friend in Delhi. Working for the friend-who belongs to a former royal family of Uttar Pradesh-Shraddhananda had graduated from being an errand boy to handling tax and property matters. With his gift of the gab, he influenced the Khaleelis so much that they invited him to their home in Bangalore. "This was a fateful invitation that spelt doom for Khaleeli," says Bangalore Police Commissioner S. Mariswamy.

In helping Khaleeli resolve some property matters, Shraddhananda. endeared himself to her to the extent that the two were soon involved in a relationship, with Shraddhananda exploiting Khaleeli's desire to have a son by claiming magical powers. In 1985, Khaleeli divorced her husband. She married the fake godman the next year. Soon, however, differences cropped up between the two and in 1991 Shraddhananda decided to get rid of his wife. He told his servants that he wanted to keep antiques and ornaments safely and had a wooden casket made. He also had casual labourers dig a pit in the courtyard, saying it was for a tank. One evening in March 1991, he drugged his wife with sleeping tablets and after she became unconscious, he put her in the casket and buried her alive.

PICTURE SPEAK

VINDICATED: Sabah (left) and Ezmeth; (top) the Richmond Road house

After Sabah noticed her mother's absence, she confronted Shraddhananda, who said she had gone abroad to have a baby. Unconvinced, she lodged a missing-person complaint on June 10, 1992. The breakthrough came three years later-after pressure from Khaleeli's former husband and family-when Mahadeva, a detective of the Central Crime Branch, had a servant from the Khaleeli household confess to him in a drunken stupor that he had helped Shraddhananda kill his wife. On April 30, 1994, the fake swami was taken into custody. Soon, Khaleeli's body was exhumed and videographed. "In May 1994," says police officer C. Veeraiah, who filed the charges against Shraddhananda, "he was to receive an advance of Rs 2 crore for the mansion where he had buried Shakereh. He had planned to sell it for Rs 6 crore." Shraddhananda had already extracted Rs 30 crore from Khaleeli by then.

While another legal tangle may be awaiting the Khaleeli family in the high court, Sabah says they may not pursue the case "as this is a victory for us". Chennai-based Ezmeth has other things on her mind. "We are keen to send our mother on her last journey in a dignified manner," she says. So as Khaleeli's killer prepares for an undignified exit from the world, her daughters may finally get around to burying their mother with honour.

Index