BENGALURU: An 11-year-old boy has emerged as a vital lead in the gruesome murder of seven of his family members, including his mother and father, by his own uncle, Indushekar.
Suresha (name changed) spent nearly five days with Indushekar before being rescued by the police on November 4.
The boy, who was allegedly the next target of the accused, claimed that he witnessed his uncle dump four bodies, including that of his parents. A Class 5 student, Suresha, lived with his parents—Shankar and Nalini—at Dayananda Nagar in Rajajinagar. His parents were allegedly murdered by Indushekar at his residence.
The police said Shankar and Nalini, along with Suresha, had visited Indushekar’s house on October 30 after he invited them for dinner. Preliminary investigation revealed that the victims were allegedly served alcohol before being killed with a grinding stone. The police suspect that Suresha was asleep when the murders took place and that the television was kept in full volume to cancel any noise.
According to the police, the boy said that he travelled in a car with the accused while his parents’ bodies were kept in the boot. He told the investigators that he had seen four gunny bags in the car.
Speaking to media persons, Suresha said that after dinner at Indushekar’s house, he slept beside his mother. “When I woke up in the morning, my father was not there. When I tried to leave with my mother, my sister (Indushekar’s daughter) dragged me inside.
I heard my mother screaming. After a while, uncle (Indushekar) came and we went on a trip,” he said, adding that they had travelled to Kukke Subrahmanya, Dharmasthala, Sringeri and the airport (the boy did not name the airport).
“Whenever I tried to touch the gunny bags, they (Indushekar and his daughter) would scold me. There was a foul smell in the car. They used to dump the bodies whenever there was no vehicular movement. I saw a total of four bags,” the boy added. He also said that Indushekar had carried all six mobile phones belonging to the deceased in a black bag in the car. The accused allegedly used the boy to send voice notes to his family members, claiming that they were on an “All-India Tour”.
The police have recorded the boy’s statement.
Boy's body found at Nandi Hills
Rajajinagar police, with the assistance of Chikkaballapur police, retrieved the body of seven-year-old Puneeth. A team of senior police officials brought accused Indushekar to the spot on Friday morning and retrieved the body, packed in a gunny bag.
Chikkaballapura SP Padmini Sahoo told TNIE that the police team reached Nandi Hills on Thursday evening. But as darkness fell, the body could not be traced. On Friday morning, the team returned with the accused, who showed them the spot where he had dumped the body. Sources said the body was packed in a gunny bag and thrown from the 9th curve of Nandi Hills, near Rangappa Circle. Sahoo said with the help of locals, police retrieved the body.