BENGALURU: The Mahadevapura police have cracked the case of a software engineer who was murdered earlier this month and have arrested nine people including a woman. Lakshman Kumar (33), a resident of Horamavu Main Road and a software engineer in a private company, was stabbed to death near Mahadevapura Ring Road flyover, on February 3. Police said that Kumar was married to Sreeja, also a techie. Her sister’s husband, Satya, was in love with her but the victim and his wife were unaware of it. Satya thought that he could woo her if he killed her husband.
Therefore, through a common acquaintance, Satya sought out a man named Dinesh, who had eloped with his girlfriend and married her in Hyderabad. As Dinesh had no job, Satya approached him and offered a supari (contract) of Rs 15 lakh and a flat in Hyderabad if he eliminated Kumar. Kumar was stabbed in the neck on July 16, 2019 by the accused but luckily he survived, said the police.
“As he had no enemies, Kumar had told the police that the assailants might have attacked him mistaking him for someone else. The Hennur police had registered a case in this connection but the accused were not found,” police said.
As he was still alive, Satya again asked Dinesh to finish him. Dinesh then roped in his friends - Prashanth, Prem, Lokesh, Kushanth, Santosh and Ravi - to get the job done. They had been camped out in a lodge near Devanahalli since January 1.
“After observing Kumar’s movements, they tried to finish him on January 30 and 31 but they could not spot Kumar near his house nor office. Again on February 3, they accused persons waited near his house since morning. When Kumar went on his scooter to office, the accused followed him and attacked him near Mahadevapura Ring Road flyover bridge and escaped. Kumar was rushed to a hospital, where he succumbed later,” police said.
Based on several clues, Dinesh was arrested first along with Prashanth, Prem, Lokesh, Santosh and Ravi. Later, Satya and others were arrested based on the information revealed by Dinesh. “After the murder, Satya had acted innocent and brought his wife by flight and had also collected the FIR copy from the police,” the police added. Police arrested Kumar’s co-brother Satya alias Satyaprasad Venkataranga (41), from Hyderabad, Dinesh (26), a resident of Hoskote who received the supari, his wife Sayeeda alias Savita (25), and six others.