BENGALURU: A couple, who were on the run for eight years, after allegedly brutally murdering a native of Vijayapura district, finally landed in the police net in Maharashtra’s Nashik. In August 2015, 21-year-old Lingaraju Siddappa Poojary was murdered in the Jigani Industrial area near Electronics City. The accused are Bhagyashri, 31, and her husband Suputra Shankarappa Talawar, 32. Lingaraju was Bhagyashri’s brother.
Bhagyashri and Talawar were in college during the time of the murder. They were in love but the family objected to their marriage. Later, they separated from their respective marriages, and Talawar came to Jigani first.
Bhagyashri was in her parents’ house. Talawar contacted Bhagyashri and asked her to come to Jigani, who came with her brother, Lingaraju. The trio began working in the same company.
“Talawar and Bhagyashri stayed in a rented house at Vaderamanchanahalli, pretending to be a married couple. Lingaraju was upset about their closeness and asked Bhagyashri to end the relationship. When she refused, he thrashed her. Talawar was also beaten up when he rushed to help her. Infuriated, Bhagyashri attacked her brother with a sharp weapon, and he died on the spot. The duo then chopped the body and scattered them in various locations in Jigani,” said an officer.
The Jigani police identified the body, and their sources said that the victim’s sister and her lover were missing since the murder. The police, unable to trace them as they refrained from using their phones or gadgets, filed a closure report in 2018.
In a recent crime review meeting, senior police officials of Bengaluru Rural police instructed Jigani police to reopen the case. “We visited the company where the accused were working. From there, we found out they had moved to another company. We worked on this and found out they were in Nashik. The duo had married and changed their names to Priyanka and Vinod Reddy,” the officer said.