The Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths probing the sensational murder of gangster Lakshmana said the plan to eliminate the gangster was hatched five months ago. The police pored over 3 GB of voice, text and WhatsApp conversations exchanged between Rupesh and Varshini to get to the bottom of the murder plot.
B Balaraju, Assistant Commissioner of Police (organised crime wing), said the accused Rupesh and Varshini, who are lovers, hatched the plan in November 2018 after the gangster pressurised Varshini’s father to send her to Cambridge University in the UK in order to separate Rupesh and Varshini. “We had seized their mobile phones and retrieved all the data. We found that the duo had planned his murder five months back and their conversation runs into more than 3 GB of data,” said Balaraju.
According to the police, the motive for the murder was not property-related but Varshini and Rupesh’s desire to end Lakshmana’s incessant interference in their love affair. The two conspirators received help from other gangsters who wanted to avenge the death of their gang leader CC Raja.
We have asked for five more days of custody of Rupesh and Varshini as we need to interrogate them individually about their conversations, said Balaraju. A senior police officer said Lakshmana had become possessive of Varshini and decided to keep her as his mistress.
“He tried all possible ways to spoil her relationship with Rupesh. This made the duo conspire to eliminate him,” he said.
Days before Lakshmana’s murder, the accused met in Muthathi, a tourist attraction situated 109 km from Bengaluru. The accused took a room to plot the end of Lakshmana. The police visited the spot and conducted mahajar. CCB sleuths have so far arrested a total of nine accused, including Rupesh and Varshini.
Three accused identified as ‘Cat’ Raja, Hemanth Kumar and Akash were shot at and arrested while they were on the run. Apart from these three, the police had taken custody of six accused till March 21.
On Thursday, the 1st ACMM granted five more days of police custody of the six accused as the police said they needed to interrogate the accused. The arrest count in the murder case now stands at 12.