BENGALURU: Chamarajpet police on Wednesday solved the case of murder of 55-year-old Vijaya Vasanth, who stayed alone in her house on 5th Main, Chamarajapet, and was found murdered on Tuesday. They said Vijaya's foster daughter Sonu Pujari (29), and her friend Kumar (21) had allegedly killed her for gain to clear their debts.
A special team nabbed the two within a few hours by gathering leads from CCTV footage and based on details given by an eyewitness. Sonu was working in a beauty parlour and was living as a paying guest, while her friend Kumar was an assistant in the PG in Kempegowda Nagar in South Bengaluru.
A senior police officer said, "During interrogation, we learnt it was a case of murder for gain and Sonu and Kumar had attacked Vijaya to rob her of gold ornaments. They had a debt and to come out from that burden, Sonu had hatched a plot to kill Vijaya. Vijaya, who hailed from Mangaluru, was unmarried and she was taking care of Sonu for the last 15 years. Sonu was married to one Gagan Pal, but separated from him. She used to visit Vijaya's house often."
He said that on Tuesday afternoon, she came with Kumar and had a party, forcing Vijaya to consume alcohol. When the victim went into the kitchen to fetch something, the duo followed her and strangled her with a scarf and attacked her with a blunt weapon.
"After she collapsed, they smothered her and robbed her of gold jewellery and ransacked the house before fleeing. We gathered CCTV footage from an electronics shop and a resident had seen the movements of Sonu and Kumar. The police immediately swung into action and nabbed the accused who were about to flee to Mumbai," the officer said.
Sonu has alleged during interrogation that Vijaya had forced her to work in a brothel when she was a minor, and that she had sought to avenge that, and hence killed her. However, that account remains unverified. Meanwhile, the police were able to recover the gold ornaments the two accused had hidden in their friend's house.