BENGALURU: A software engineer, who was wanted in a 2003 murder case by the Gujarat police, was arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police in Bengaluru on Thursday. The accused, who had allegedly murdered his wife and absconded, had married another woman and had been living in the city for the last 10 years.
Tarun Jinaraj, 45, was wanted by the Ahmedabad police on charges of murdering his wife Sajni (26), a private bank executive, just three months after their wedding, on February 14, 2003. He had initially stated that dacoits had ransacked his house and killed his wife. A few days after the murder, the police suspected his role and questioned him. Fearing that he would be caught, he escaped and was absconding for more than 15 years.
The Ahmedabad police had recently gathered information that he was working in a reputed company in Bengaluru and had approached the city police. An official in the CCB said, “When the case was entrusted to the CCB, we started to gather more information about him. We found that he was working as senior manager in Oracle and was living with his wife in HSR Layout.” Jinaraj was arrested on Tuesday evening, the official added.
“He was questioned briefly by us before he was handed over to the Ahmedabad police. According to the HR staff of the company, Jinaraj was working there for the past 10 years under the name Praveen Batale. It was found that he had murdered his wife to marry his girlfriend. But now, it has been revealed that he had married another woman instead,” the police stated.