India, Nov. 13 -- A man who spent nearly two-and-a-half years in prison on charges of murdering a woman has been cleared of the central allegation after she was traced alive in Karnataka's Mandya district. District police chief has now ordered a probe into the police investigation and the confession on which the murder case was built.

Rajesh, 42, from Ragimuddanahalli in Pandavapura taluk, was arrested in August 2021 over the disappearance of Manjula, 38. Police alleged that he had killed her and disposed of her body in the Visvesvaraya Canal. He remained in judicial custody until securing bail on December 24, 2024.

Manjula was traced in Nagamangala on November 11, after Rajesh approached the police with information that she was alive a...