BENGALURU: About a month before he was killed, 35-year-old Sohan Haldar had posted a message about his intention to sell his bike, and accepted a friend request on Facebook.
Little did he know his new ‘friend’ would visit his house on the pretext of buying the bike, and poison him to death, police said.
The background came to light on Wednesday, with the Kadugodi police arresting 30-year-old Kartik, an engineering graduate and habitual offender.
In a tragic irony, Haldar’s Facebook cover photo shows a man looking ardently at his bike and telling it: “I love you. But look into my eyes and promise me you will never kill me.”
A native of West Bengal, Haldar was found dead at his Prestige Shantiniketan apartment near Whitefield on August 5.
Kartik has confessed he was out to make easy money and live it up, police claimed on Thursday.
Son of Manjunath and a resident of Rajajinagar, Kartik is implicated in three other criminal cases in the city.
Kartik would routinely befriend people on social networking sites. Once he had gained their confidence, he would visit their houses to observe their circumstances, police said.
Haldar had posted on his Facebook friends’ group his plan to sell his posh KTM Duke bike. Kartik showed interest in buying it. He then went to Peenya Industrial area and allegedly bought silver Potassium cyanide (SPC).
He told the vendor he would use it for electroplating, and paid `2,700 for it. (Electroplating is a process that uses electric current to form a coherent metal coating).
Kartik visited Haldar’s house on two days to negotiate the price. On Wednesday, he asked him to stay back and walked into his apartment in the afternoon. After speaking to him for a few minutes, he pushed Haldar and allegedly forced the cyanide into his mouth.
When he saw Sohan fall unconscious, he allegedly picked up his valuables and left, pulling the door shut. The door has an automatic lock.
“We obtained CCTV footage which shows Kartik’s visits to Sohan’s house. We formed a special team to nab him. Kartik had taken away Sohan’s bike, wallet, bank cards and mobile,” a senior officer said.
Kartik withdrew `27,000 from various ATMs. After the murder, he allegedly tried to sell the bike.