HUBBALLI: Nearly one and half years after Arpita Biradar (23) was strangled to death in an agriculture field outside Hubballi, police have finally nabbed her boyfriend for the crime.
The accused is Arun Shivalingappa Patil (24) of Adarsh Nagar in Vijayapura. He was produced before court on Tuesday. He confessed that he was “driven” to murder Arpita as she was forcing him to marry, police said.
Hubballi-Dharwad City Police Commissioner Pandurang Rane said Patil was inspired by Kannada thriller Drishya where the murderer uses many methods to evade police.
The police said Patil killed Arpita on May 30, 2015. He fled the scene after burying her body. The police found the decomposed body three days later. The identification was difficult as some part of her body were eaten up by stray dogs.
Arpita’s father, who filed a missing case at the Sub Urban police Dharwad, identified her based on the gold chain and locket which he had gifted her.
The Kasabapet police team visited Arpita’s native Vijayapura, Kalaburagi and other places. They questioned her parents, friends, including the accused. It’s said that Arpita and Arun were in a relationship for three years. They studied BSc in Vijayapura.
“Though the team had doubts about Arun, there was not enough evidence to arrest him. But during a recent interrogation the team found a diary at the residence of Arun which revealed most facts about the case,” Rane added.
In order to effectively answer the police questions, Arun prepared a questionnaire and maintained a dairy, writing all the details of how he committed the murder and how he fled the scene and incidents related to the murder.