The Kodigehalli police have arrested a 22-year-old driver for allegedly murdering an elderly couple at their residence in Byatarayanapura. The bodies were found on July 5. According the police, the suspect, Venkatesh, was in debt and stole valuables from the couple’s home to raise money to repay his loan.
“He was known to the family as he had been hired by a close friend of the couple’s younger son, Prithviraj,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-East) P.S. Harsha.
“He had accompanied his employer to the couple’s house and observed that Muniyappa (68), a retired Assistant Controller of GKVK, and his wife Varalakshmi were the only ones living in the three-storey bungalow.”
Two of their three sons lived in different parts of the city while the third is in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
Venkatesh also learnt that Muniyappa was involved in huge money transactions through his money lending business. He noticed that Varalakshmi used to wear a lot of gold ornaments.
On July 5, he called on the couple on the pretext of discussing a personal matter. After conversing with Muniyappa for a few minutes, Venkatesh allegedly overpowered the latter and slit his throat with a knife, which he had bought from a hardware shop in his hometown, said the police. He then went to the first floor of the house where Varalakshmi was going about her daily chores and killed her in similar manner.
He then removed her gold valuables and searched the house for cash and gold. He left with whatever valuables he could find. Neighbours noticed him coming out of the house and later informed the police during the course of the investigation.
The police gathered details about the suspect before picking him up from his home town. They recovered the gold valuables, which he had pawned for Rs. 1,02,000 to clear his debt.
The police have booked Venkatesh for murder and taken him into custody.
