Decomposed body: Victim's paramour held

Bengaluru: The Commercial Street police have reached a breakthrough in the murder of a 40-year-woman, whose decomposed body was found at her mother's house on January 1. Her paramour has been arrested for the murder.

The police had suspected that the crime was committed by someone known to the victim as there were no signs of forced entry. The post-mortem revealed that the victim, Tara Prabhu alias Sridevi, died after her throat was slit. The accused has been identified as Gopinath alias Gopi, 35. He was married and living with his wife and children in Horamavu. Gopi was working as an animal trainer and knew Tara’s husband Prabhu Kumar, who is into bird rearing. They had also worked together in a private company.

Tara and her husband lived in J.P. Nagar with their children and as Gopi was Prabhu’s friend, he visited them often. He also became friends with Tara, which later turned into an affair.He often visited Tara’s house when her husband and children were away.

In 2016, Gopi requested Tara to lend him some money as he claimed he was facing financial crises. He promised to return it with interest.Tara somehow arranged '11.8 lakh after borrowing from her relatives and gave it to him. She kept this as a secret and kept even her husband in the dark. 

But of late, her relatives started asking her to return the money. When she asked Gopi, he told her that he was not in a position to return it yet. Tara kept persisting with him to return the money.

On December 28, Tara’s mother Sarala called and told her that she was going on a pilgrimage and gave her the keys to look after her house on Sangam Road near Commercial Street.

Tara told her family that she would stay in her mother’s house for some days till she returns and shifted to the house on the same day. Next morning, she called Gopi and told him that she was staying at her mother’s house and asked him to come over.

Around 2:30 pm, he reached the house and Tara welcomed him with cool drinks and smooth talked him to return the money.However it soon turned into an argument and she threatened to file a rape case against him and tell his wife about their affair.

The argument got further heated up and Gopi tied her with a cloth and slit her throat with a knife. He left her body in the bedroom and locked the main door from outside and escaped.

On Monday when Sarala returned home from pilgrimage, she found the decomposed body in her bedroom and immediately informed the police.The Commercial Street police who investigated the scene found there were no marks on the doors and no valuables were stolen from the house.

After questioning the family and friends they got a lead on Gopi and when they interrogated him, he confessed to the crime. The Commercial Street police have arrested him and registered a case.