Brothers in arms

They say that Coorg men are the best looking in the country. Muthanna was certainly one handsome man. He was tall, athletically built, had strong features, green eyes with thick lashes and a big head of hair. He also knew he was good looking, which made him quite unbearable, coupled with the fact that he was very wealthy. Being the younger of two sons, with a huge coffee estate, a very eligible commodity in the community.

When Gayatri got engaged to him, she was over the moon, his engagement gift to her was a car, and as he told her that was the begining of many more nice things to come. Gayatri was a pretty girl, who had entered Miss India and placed as a runner up in 1996, got engaged two months after the contest. She was hot property and her family wasted no time, when she got her proposal from Muthanna, to get her engaged. She went back to Bangalore, to get her trousseau ready.

Everything was going smoothly till one morning her Uncle came to the house one morning in a state of agitation, sat her down and broke the bad news to her. Muthanna was in prison, imprisoned for the murder of his elder brother. She was forced to break off her engagement.

The papers were full of the story the next day.

Muthanna got up in the morning, and his elder brother Cariappa, asked him to come into the estate with him, they drove into the vast estates in their jeep, got out and went about doing some mundane job. On finishing this, they broke for lunch, and they came back to the house, there over lunch they started discussing the money that they had recieved on the sale of the coffee. Cariappa wanted to expand the property and have some money put back into the estate, Muthanna wanted to buy some property in Bangalore for his new bride. They argued, each getting more and more angry. Finally Muthanna in a fit of rage, went into his mothers bedroom, took down the double barrel gun and shot the brother. Cariappa died on the spot. The mother screamed and his sister in law went running to the phone to call the police. Muthanna shot the phone, and then threatened his mother and sister in law that if they went to the cops, he would kill the grandson. The two women kept quiet. A farm hand went running to the neighbouring estate, and narrated the whole story, who in turn called the cops.
Inspector Siddanna, was corrupt to the core. On arriving alone on the scene of the crime, he confronted Muthanna, who promptly offered him money to be silent. The inspector accepted Rs 5 lakh and the case was closed as an accident, where the brother was cleaning the gun and it went off.

The neighbour who had called the police had also informed the local Member of the Legislative council, a Coorg lady by the name of Gangu Muthappa. She knew who Muthanna was, and did not like him. The next day she took out a protest march to the police station, called all the press and the case was reopened. Inspector Siddanna was courtmartialled , and the investigation is still pending. On the witness stand the mother broke down, and confessed all, including the threat to her grandson. Muthanna was given a life term, non bailable. He tried to appeal, every lawyer he tried to hire, was boycotted in Coorg. The state hired him a lawyer, a bumbling idiot, and his fate was sealed.

It has been 10 years since this incident, Muthanna is still in prison. The estate is being run by his nephew. Gayatri, is married to another Coorg and has two sons. The community women banded together with the mother and grandmother and they look after each other. It is also said that Coorg women are very strong.