Bengaluru: Woman colleague gave supari, bank staffer's murder cracked

Bengaluru: Four people, including a woman, were arrested for brutally murdering a 36-year-old cooperative bank employee whose decomposed body was found in a eucalyptus grove near his house on the outskirts of Samandur, a village near Attibele in Bengaluru Rural district, on April 15.

The accused have been identified as Rekha (27) and Puttabasappa alias Appi (26), both residents of Jigane Hobli in Anekal taluk, Shaktivelu (27), a resident of Garvebhavipalya, and Manikanthan (29), an employee with a private firm and a resident of Begur in Bengaluru Rural district. Rekha was the deceased Murugesh’s colleague and is the mastermind behind the murder, the police said.

Murugesh was a secretary at the Primary Agricultural Credit Cooperative Society at Kachanayakanahalli and Rekha was a cashier. Recently, Murugesh found some fraudulent transactions and disparity in the cash collected from the customers. During an internal inquiry, Murugesh found Rekha’s involvement in the misappropriation and told her to repay the differential amount.

Rekha, who wanted to get rid of Murugesh and was eyeing the bank’s secretary post, hatched a murder plan along with her brother-in-law Puttabasappa. On the eve of April 13, Puttabasappa, Shaktivelu and Manikanthan met Rekha and took an advance payment of Rs 10,000 for executing the murder. She told them that the rest of Rs 25,000 would be paid after the job was done, the police said.

Puttabasappa, Shaktivelu, and Manikanthan rode to Murugesh’s house and waited for him to come out. The moment he stepped out and walked a little distance, the trio dragged him to a nearby eucalyptus grove and strangled him to death with a belt. They stabbed his face multiple times to ensure that no one recognises him. The villagers found the body on Sunday and alerted police.