BENGALURU: The North division police with the help of neighbouring Tamil Nadu police recovered two more bodies from a dense forest in the Salem ghat section of Tamil Nadu, in the horrific murder of seven members of a family in the city.
With the latest recovery, the bodies of three of the seven victims have been recovered. They have been identified as Sunitha (40), wife of prime accused Indushekhar (52) and his mother-in-law Rupavathi (65). Both bodies were found in a severely decomposed state.
Meanwhile, the last rites of seven-year-old Puneeth, the youngest of all the victims, were performed by his family members at Harishchandra Ghat in Rajajinagar on Friday night. His body had been recovered from Nandi foothills.
The police officers learnt that the accused picked blood-stained jewellery from the bodies of his victims after bludgeoning them to death using a grindstone. He then washed the jewellery before selling some and pledging others.
He reportedly used the money to purchase diesel for his car to transport and dispose of the bodies at different locations. He allegedly kept the remaining jewellery in his pocket and also gave some to his minor daughter, who is suspected to have helped him in disposing of the bodies.
The family members of the victims have been taken to Salem to identify the bodies and other legal procedures. The bodies will be handed over to the relatives after the postmortem.
As the mortal remains are completely decomposed, the family is considering whether to perform the last rites in Salem or to bring them to Bengaluru.
The accused too has been taken to Salem for the spot mazhar. “A final decision will be taken after reaching Salem and assessing the situation. The police informed us that the highly decomposed bodies of Sunitha and Rupavathi were found,” Manjula, Rupavathi’s sister, told the media.
A Kannada text message reportedly provided one of the biggest breakthroughs to the police investigating the killings. A reply from the mobile phone of Shankar, one of the victims, raised suspicion.