BENGALURU: That fateful evening, he was planning to go to a reputed book house in the central business district in Bengaluru with daughter Kriti and their neighbour, a former bureaucrat and his long-standing friend. But that was not to be. Around 3.44 pm, former director general and inspector general of police (DG&IGP) Om Prakash spoke to him and asked if they could go to the bookstore together. Kriti is an avid book lover and Prakash would often indulge her with books.
The neighbour asked if he was okay, to which Prakash replied that he was fine and Pallavi was at home with him. “He sounded his normal self,” said the neighbour, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
That was the last call ‘OP’, as he was affectionately called by his friends, made before he was murdered in cold blood. A little after 4.38pm, Prakash’s wife Pallavi called another neighbour, the wife of a former police chief, and informed her that she had finished him. Pallavi then did a video call with her and another retired IPS officer, showing them Om Prakash lying immobile on the floor, in a pool of blood.
The neighbours panicked and ran to Prakash’s house. “The front door was not locked. We went in and peeped inside the living room. We found OP lying in a pool of blood,” said the retired officer. “We touched him and his body was still warm. He had a pulse, albeit very feeble. We tried to call the ambulance but they took time to come.
They had too many questions before they accepted the booking. By then the police had arrived and they started protecting the crime scene. We were all too shocked at what had happened but our only priority was to rush OP to hospital and revive him somehow,” said the neighbours.
He added that Pallavi, who has been under treatment for mental illness of late, had expressed extreme anger, resentment and mistrust against her husband. “Some of the neighbours had recently cautioned Prakash and he had moved away from his house for almost 10 days. Kriti coaxed him to come back home,” said the neighbour.
Those who knew the couple said theirs was a happy marriage initially. “OP got married in 1983 when he was posted as DySP, Harapanahalli. After marriage he brought Pallavi to Bengaluru. By then he was posted at the Lokayukta. She comes from a good family. Her father was a former judge of the Patna High Court and chairman of the National Commission for Backward Classes. She was socially active. The two looked happy together,” said Prakash’s friend, who did not wish to be named.
Later, Pallavi developed some mental illness, “She was under medication and with treatment, she did well for some time. Things began souring between the couple for reasons best known to them. She began suspecting him, and perhaps started feeling that Prakash may betray her and also give away his property to his siblings, leaving nothing for her and Kriti. There would be regular fights between the couple. He also had serious health issues, and had lost a lot of weight in the last few months,” said the neighbour.