BENGALURU: Police in Bengaluru have recovered two more bodies in the case of the alleged murder of seven members of one family in the city, taking the number of bodies found so far to three, officers said. The remains were found in a forested stretch of Salem district in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
The two were identified by police as Sunitha, 40, wife of the prime accused, and her mother Rupavathi, 65. Both bodies were severely decomposed. Relatives have been taken to Salem to complete identification formalities and other legal procedures, and the remains are to be handed over after post-mortem. Because of the condition of the bodies, the family is weighing whether to conduct the last rites in Salem or bring them back to Bengaluru.
The accused, a cab driver named Indushekhar, has been arrested and is in custody. Police said the recoveries followed information he provided during the investigation, and that the house where the killings are suspected to have taken place is near Bashyam Circle in Rajajinagar, while the forest site is more than 250 km away.
Puneeth, aged seven, was the first of the three bodies to be found, near the foothills of Nandi Hills. His last rites were performed by family members at Harishchandra Ghat in Rajajinagar on Friday night. His post-mortem was conducted at Victoria Hospital, and sources said preliminary findings pointed to a blow to the head from a blunt object. The bodies were said to have been wrapped in tape and cloth and placed in bags.
Police have said the search continues for the remaining four bodies, with suspicion that some may have been left in areas around Hassan or Chikkamagaluru districts. The police are also deployed in areas, Chamundi Hills and Shirdi Ghat as part of next phase of investigations. Investigators are also probing what role, if any, the accused's minor daughter played. Officers reportedly believe jewellery taken from the victims was washed and then partly sold and partly pledged, with some of the proceeds said to have gone into fuel for transporting the bodies.
The case surfaced after Tungamma, mother of one of the missing women, Nalini, filed a missing-person complaint at Srirampura police station about her daughter and son-in-law, and the probe led officers to suspect the accused. A deputy commissioner of police has been placed in charge of the investigation given the scale of the case. Police are working to establish the sequence of the killings and the sites where the other bodies were disposed of.
Initial accounts suggest the killings began on October 16 with the accused's wife, followed two days later by her mother, who had come to visit her daughter; both women are said to have been sedated through food or drink. The remaining family members are suspected to have been killed at intervals over the following days, a span put at 15 to 20 days. A Kannada text message, and a reply from the mobile phone of one of the victims, Shankar, reportedly gave investigators a key lead. Police have not ruled out further recoveries.
Investigators are also examining how the accused allegedly used a "press" sticker on his Toyota car to avoid police checks and unwanted attention. He is suspected to have used multiple layers of tapes to cover the bodies and also fragnaces inside his car to avoid the decomposition smell. The accused will be in police custody for 12 days as identification of dispoal sites of the body could be done with his inputs. Further delaying in finding the bodies could limit the details that could be found from post-mortem examinations. "We have taken leads from his statements and initiated search operations, but having him physically present is important because even with him, marking the locations is difficult. Besides, he may have disposed of the bodies deep inside forest areas, among thick shrubs", the police said.
Meanwhile, the investigation is still underway and police have deputed other teams to investigate various other angles of the case.
(With inputs from media reports)