Investigating the death of a restaurant owner, police have arrested five people, including his wife and her lover.
The arrested are Ranjitha, 23, her lover Ganesh, 26, and his friends Shivananda, Sharath and Deepak. They are residents of Channasandra, RR Nagar, and Banashankari.
The deceased, Arun Kumar (34), was a resident of Channasandra and a native of Channapatna. His body was found in Gattigerepalya near NICE Road, South Bengaluru, on June 29. A passerby who noticed the body around 7 am alerted the police control room. Thalaghattapura police registered a case of murder and identified the body on June 30.
Police questioned Ranjitha about Kumar's death and suspected something fishy about her behaviour. They detained her for further questioning. She confessed to getting her husband killed by Ganesh and his friends. Police tracked down the suspects on Sunday.
Ganesh was running the ‘Bheegara Oota’ restaurant near a college on Dr Vishnuvardhan Road in Uttarahalli. He also supplied bottled water to Kumar’s restaurant.
Kumar had borrowed around Rs 8 lakh from Ganesh for his hotel business and was unable to repay it. He sustained losses and was forced to close the hotel three weeks ago.
During his visits to the hotel, Ganesh befriended Ranjitha and they began an affair six months ago.
According to preliminary police investigations, Kumar found out about the affair four months ago and he warned Ranjitha and Ganesh. But Ranjitha continued to meet Ganesh.
However, she couldn’t hide her clandestine meetings for long. Kumar used to beat her for meeting Ganesh. So, Ranjitha told Ganesh to get rid of her husband. Ganesh asked his friends for help to commit the crime.
On June 28, Ganesh called Kumar over the phone, asking to meet him as he wanted to discuss financial issues regarding the reopening of the hotel.
Kumar, who was under the influence of alcohol, met Ganesh. They partied and went to Gattigerepalya in an auto-rickshaw. Once there, Ganesh and his three friends hacked him to death with machetes and escaped.
The alibi
Ranjitha had gone to her parents' house in Mandya on June 28, a day before Ekadashi. She returned on June 30. She planned the visit to her parents' house so that the police would not suspect her role in the murder, a senior officer said.
Kumar and Ranjitha were married for four years and have a two-year-old child.
All five accused are in police custody.