Bengaluru: A cab driver from Bengaluru has been arrested on charges of murdering his wife and six members of her family, including a seven-year-old.
The accused, identified as Indushekar alias Shekhar (52), is suspected of dumping the bodies at multiple locations near the foothills of the Nandi Hills in Karnataka’s Chikkaballapur district, the police said.
Only the body of the seven-year-old child, identified as Puneeth, has been recovered till now. A search is on to locate the others.
The victims have been identified as Shekhar’s wife Sunitha, her mother Roopavati, her brothers Shivakumar and Shankar, their wives Divya and Nalini, and Shivakumar’s son Puneeth.
The accused allegedly called Sunitha’s family members to his house individually over two days and killed them using a grinding stone, preliminary investigations suggest.
The case came to light after Nalini’s mother approached the Sriramapura police in Bengaluru and lodged a missing-person complaint, stating that her daughter was untraceable. During the investigation, the police grew suspicious of Shekhar and questioned him, following which his alleged involvement in the murders came to light, as reported by The Indian Express.
Investigations so far have revealed that Shekhar married Sunitha around 20 years ago. The couple lived in a small one-room kitchen house on the terrace of a building near Bhashyam Circle in Rajajinagar.
Frequent arguments between the couple over Sunitha’s continued association with her parental family may have led to the murders, the police suspect. Family members had reportedly made several attempts to resolve the differences, sources said.
Shekhar was taken to the foothills of Nandi Hills by the police while searches were being conducted. Puneeth’s body was recovered on Thursday following several hours of search.
The accused allegedly dumped the bodies at multiple locations around the foothills of Nandi Hills, including an area near Chamrajpet Hills. The locations are said to be on steep slopes, where bodies pushed down could fall deep into the forest, making them difficult to locate.
While police personnel regularly patrol the foothill areas as part of their beat duties, the bodies are suspected to have been pushed further into the forest, which is difficult for the police to access. Forest personnel are present in the area, and police are now searching multiple locations for the bodies
It is also being investigated how the bodies were transported to the foothills from the scene of the crimes.
“A murder FIR has been registered and the investigation is underway,” Babasab Nemagoud, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) said while confirming the incident.
Three assistant commissioners of police are part of a special team set up to investigate the case and recover the remaining bodies.