BENGALURU: A realtor, who suspected his wife’s fidelity, drew inspiration from the 1993 thriller movie ‘Baa Nalle Madhuchandrake’ to hatch a plot to eliminate her. On Wednesday, he slit her throat at their residence in Aarogya Layout and escaped. But the law caught up and Annapurneshwarinagar police arrested 39-year-old realtor Kantharaju on Friday.
The police said that Kantharaju, who is also a moneylender, suspected the fidelity of his wife Roopa (34) and quarrelled with her frequently. He confessed to the police that after watching ‘Baa Nalle...”, where the lead character takes his wife to the Himalayas, pushes her from the top of a hill and makes it look like an accident, he hatched a similar plot.
A few months ago, Kantharaju took his wife along with his friends to Jog Falls and tried to push her from the hill. Roopa managed to escape with minor injuries, but she did not reveal this to anyone. A few days later, he tried crashing into her while reversing the car. But she moved away immediately and the car banged into the compound wall.
A month ago, he took Roopa to Dharmasthala where Roopa tried to convince him that she had no extramarital affair and he made her promise before Lord Manjunatha. But he continued to be suspicious of her and kept checking her phone.
On Wednesday evening, he picked a quarrel with Roopa and in a fit of rage, slit her throat. He then locked the door from outside and fled. Their eight-year-old son, who returned home from the tuition, found his mother lying in a pool of blood and informed his grandparents who alerted the police.
Kantharaju told the police that he went to Hassan to dispose of the knife that he used to kill Roopa. He had thought that if the murder weapon is not found, the police would not be able to trace him. He threw the knife in a river, went to Dharmasthala, shaved his head, and confessed before God. He returned to the city on Friday and the police arrested him.