BENGALURU: Bidadi police cracked the double murder case of Wing Commander Raghu Rajan (rtd) and his wife Asha, and arrested the prime accused, Jogendar Kumar Yadav (21), within 24 hours. Rajan (65) and his wife Asha (60) were found murdered at their villa in Eagleton gated community in Bidadi, on the outskirts of the city, on Tuesday afternoon. The incident came to light when Rajan’s son called the security staff to check on his parents as they were not answering his calls since Monday night.
Police said the guards found Yadav at the villa when they went to check on the retired IAF officer. Yadav told them the couple had left for Bengaluru early in the morning. Rajan’s son, who was on call, asked the guards to go inside the house and check. When the guards went in, Yadav accompanied them. On seeing Rajan’s body, the guard locked Yadav in the drawing-room and came out to alert the police. However, within a few minutes, Yadav and another accused managed to escape by jumping the compound.
“The police teams formed to nab the accused gathered information that the accused was at Bidadi bypass. While police managed to nab Yadav, the other accused, identified as Yadav’s cousin Ravikumar Yadav, managed to escape,” Ramanagara SP K Santosh Babu told reporters.Investigations revealed that Yadav, who is from Bihar, had convinced his cousin that they could make a fortune if they murdered the couple. “On Monday afternoon, he had sneaked his cousin into the guest bedroom on the terrace through the stairs in the garden and kept the door open.
At 7 pm, Yadav informed Asha that he was leaving but went up to the terrace. Till 2am, the assailants waited in the guest bedroom, as Yadav was sure the couple would not come there. They then entered the house from the terrace and went to the room on the first floor, where Rajan was sleeping. While the cousin held Rajan’s legs, Yadav hit his head with a hammer multiple times,” police said, adding that they had covered his mouth with a bedspread so that his wife couldn’t hear his screams.
Yadav felt giddy and vomited in Rajan’s room, as it was the first time he was doing something like this, police said. “After finishing Rajan, the duo picked up a whiskey bottle from the house, went back to the terrace, and consumed alcohol before they returned to kill Asha, who was sleeping in a room on the ground floor, at 5am,” police added.
He wanted to transfer money from e-wallet
The duo left the villa at 6am and went to the servants’ quarters, where Yadav asked his wife to pack their things as they had to leave in some time. “The killers returned to the villa around 8am and searched for valuables, and had packed gold jewellery they found in a bag. They had taken Rs 50,000 cash from the house, but Yadav wanted to transfer money from Rajan’s e-wallet apps to his bank account,” the police said. Three months ago, Yadav had reportedly transferred Rs 70,000 to a friend from Rajan’s mobile phone. Rajan had a clue that Yadav had done it but had not filed a police complaint. “Assuming that Rajan had a huge amount of money in the account, Yadav had planned the murder. However, Yadav could not gain access. When the guards arrived. In a bid to escape, the accused left without taking the jewels,” police added.