A senior citizen couple, P. Shantaraj, 65, and his wife C. Premalata, 62, were found brutally murdered at their residence in Kashinagar, Kumaraswamy Layout, on Friday afternoon.
They were discovered by neighbours who suspected something afoot when they did not see the couple step out of their house all morning. Calls to them went unanswered. Concerned, the neighbours entered the house with the police and found Shantaraj in the bedroom with his throat slit and a pillow covering his face. Premalata was on the floor of another room. She had been strangled with a cable wire, said the police.
According to a senior police official, there was no forced entry into the house. The couple seem to have served the unidentified murderer/s coffee, indicated by empty glasses in the hall. The police suspect someone known to the couple behind the crime.
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“The motive is still not clear. We don’t know whether the murderers took away something of value from the house. The victims don’t come from a high income family to be likely targets of murder for gain. The murders seem to be carried out by amateurs. It may be an act of desperation, or they may have thought they had some valuables. We are also not ruling out any personal revenge leading to these murders,” a senior police official said.
Shantaraj retired from Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation, while Premalata was a homemaker.
The couple did not have children, and owned the house they lived in. They had also rented out two portions in the same property.
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The police have formed four special teams to investigate the double murder. They are presently analysing CCTV footage in the area to identify those who came to the house. “We are also analysing mobile phone records of the victims for clues,” said the official.