BENGALURU: The Rajajinagar police cracked the murder of a 41-year-old apparel businessman, whose charred body was found in the bathroom attached to his bedroom on the first floor of his three-floor posh residence in Rajajinagar on Sunday morning.
The 15-year-old daughter of the businessman and her 18-year-old boyfriend, who were upset that he was opposed to their relationship, were arrested for the murder.
The girl confessed to killing her father Jayakumar Jain with the help of her boyfriend Praveen.
The police said that the minor girl and Praveen, who studied in the same school, were in love for the last one year. They roamed around in school and went to shopping malls together. Jayakumar, who had caught them red-handed, had scolded the daughter and warned her against meeting Praveen.
That was when Ananya hatched a plan with Praveen to kill her father. On Saturday, Ananya called up Praveen and informed him that her mother and her 12-year-old brother were leaving for Puducherry and her father would be alone that night. She asked him to buy a sharp knife and come to her house once she called him.
On Saturday night, Jayakumar had dinner and drank a glass of milk, without knowing that it had been laced with sleeping pills by his daughter. Jayakumar then went to his bedroom on the first floor.
Ananya immediately called up Praveen. When he arrived at her house, the two stabbed Jayakumar a number of times, killing him on the spot. They dragged the body to the bathroom and kept it there the whole night. They then set about cleaning up the crime scene... they washed blood-soaked bedsheets and other clothes and rubbed the floor off blood stains.
They first thought of dumping the body in some isolated place, but dropped the idea as they feared getting caught by the neighbours. Around 10 am on Sunday, they set Jayakumar's body on fire to make it look like an accidental death by short-circuit. As the body caught fire, the girl shouted for help and the neighbours immediately alerted fire brigade and police officials.
As the firemen were busy dousing the fire, and the neighbours gathered in big numbers, Praveen joined them to make it look like he had just then arrived at the spot.
The police got the charred body identified by Arun Kumar, a manager at the apparel shop owned by Jayakumar.
But the police suspected some foul play as they found bloodstains in the bedroom and started the investigation. When the police interrogated the girl, she kept changing her versions, making her a strong suspect.
She first said that her father was at home on Sunday morning when she left for her relative’s house to have breakfast. When she returned around 10.30 am, she saw smoke coming from the bathroom of her father's bedroom, and alerted the neighbours.
But after a few minutes, she changed her version and said that she went for a morning walk and not a relative's house. When subjected to intense grilling, she confessed to killing her father with the help of Praveen. The two
told the police that they killed Jayakumar as he was objecting to their relationship and for mentally harassing the girl.
