BENGALURU: Police recovered the last two of the seven bodies in the Bengaluru family murder case from the Shiradi Ghat forest area on Monday, taking the total number of bodies recovered to seven. The 11-year-old son of one of the victims, who was rescued by police, is a key witness in the investigation and the only surviving child of the family.
The two bodies were identified as Shankar (44), the brother-in-law of the prime suspect, and his wife Nalini (29). Police recovered the bodies from the forest area near Shiradi Ghat in Hassan district. The accused, S Indushekhar (52), was taken to the spot to identify the locations where he had allegedly dumped the bodies. Police teams and forensic officials inspected the recovery sites.
Earlier, police recovered the bodies of the accused's wife, Sunitha (40), and mother-in-law, Roopavathi (65), from a forest area in Yercaud in Tamil Nadu's Salem district on Saturday. On Sunday, the bodies of his brother-in-law Shivakumar and Shivakumar's wife Divya were recovered near Chamundi Hills in Mysuru district. Their seven-year-old son, Puneeth, was also among the seven victims. His body had been recovered earlier near Nandi Hills in Chikkaballapur district.
The accused, a cab driver, was arrested on November 5. Police had rescued the 11-year-old son of Shankar and Nalini on November 4. The boy is an important witness in the case and reportedly told investigators that he had seen the accused dispose of bodies at different locations.
Police are examining CCTV footage to reconstruct the accused's movements and are investigating how he allegedly procured materials used to pack and dispose of the bodies. No motive has been formally established by the police. (with inputs from media organisations)