BENGALURU: Commercial Street police have arrested a 35-year-old businessman in connection with the murder of Tara Prabhu Kumar, (41), who was found dead under mysterious circumstances at her mother’s house. The incident came to light on Monday evening but she was killed three days earlier.
The arrested has been identified as Gopinath, a resident of Horamavu and a family friend.
Tara, a resident of Marappa Garden in JC Nagar, had come to her mother’s house on Sangam Road on Commercial Street. Her husband Prabhu Kumar was at his farmhouse in Nagamangala in Mandya while her two children were at her house.Tara’s mother Sarala had gone on a trip on Friday, and returned home on Monday. She found Tara’s decomposed body and informed the police.Tara regularly visited and stayed at her mother Sarala’s house, so neither her husband nor her children contacted her this time.
A senior police officer said, “Preliminary investigation revealed that Gopinath had befriended Tara’s family seven years ago, and both had an illicit relationship. He had borrowed a loan from Tara, and Prabhu Kumar was not aware of this. Tara had taken money from her friends to give it to Gopinath, and she was being forced to return it. Hence Tara demanded Gopinath to return the money. Both had a quarrel over the issue. In a fit of rage, he took out a knife from the kitchen and stabbed her in the throat before smothering her. He left the scene after locking the door from outside.”
He threw house key, knife into drain
Gopinath was a contract employee at HAL and had left the job a six months ago. He is currently into pet breeding and had taken `11 lakh from Tara. Based on information given by her mother, Gopinath was nabbed from his house. He had minor injuries on his fingers caused while stabbing her. He killed her on Friday around 4.30pm and left the house along with the house key and knife. He threw them in an open drain in a nearby locality. The police also verified the phone call records before he was brought to the
police station.