The Mahadevapura police solved the murder of a software engineer and arrested his co-brother — also a software engineer based in Hyderabad – who was allegedly obsessed with the victim’s wife. Eight others have been arrested in the case.
“Lakshman Kumar, 33, was murdered on February 3 based on a plan hatched by Satyaprasad, 44, who lives in Hyderabad,” said the police. Satyaprasad is married to the sister of Lakshman’s wife. He allegedly offered ₹15 lakh to a taxi driver, Dinesh, to do the job. Satyaprasad gave him the details of Lakshman’s schedule, and a photograph that he had downloaded from his Facebook account.
“Dinesh took ₹1.5 lakh as advance and came to Bengaluru in January last week along with his wife and associates. They stayed in a lodge in Horamavu to recce the area Lakshman resided in,” said a police officer.
According to investigators, they made two attempts — one on January 30 and the other on January 31 — to murder Lakshman but he did not turn up at the spot where Satyaprasad told them he would. On February 3, the accused waited for him in two cars and on two bikes near his house. They saw him leave on his scooter for work.
“They followed Lakshman till Mahadevapura. They intercepted him under the bridge where they stabbed him repeatedly. He tried to flee, but could not escape,” said the police officer. He was found by passers-by and taken to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
The Mahadevapura police verified CCTV camera footage and managed to nab two of the accused Prashanth and Prem Kumar who had allegedly attacked Lakshman.
Their arrest led the police to Dinesh, who was arrested along with his wife Sayeeda and other associates Lokesh, Kushanth, Santosh and Ravi. Based on Dinesh’s confession, the police arrested Satyaprasad from Hyderabad.
“Satyaprasad claimed that he was in love with Lakshman’s wife who was unaware of his obsession,” said the police.
Not the first time
Ashwathnarayana Swamy, who cracked the case, said Lakshman had been attacked in Hennur in July 2019. He survived and the case is under investigation. The police suspect that Dinesh was behind that attack, too.
The police have recovered the cars, bikes and the weapons used by the gang.
