Wife, lover held for real estate agent’s murder

Bangalore, Jan 10: The City police have cracked the murder case of real estate agent Shankar, 38, who was hacked to death in his office, Sinchana Enterprises near Vidyapeeta Circle, by a gang of three on December 29.

The police have arrested the victim’s wife Bhagyalakshmi, her lover Cheluvaraju and four others for the murder.

A gang of three masked men had hacked Shankar to death. One of the boys, working in Shankar’s office, was the sole eye witness.

He had told police that three men had argued with Shankar, claiming that he had crossed his limits, before hacking him to death.

Three special teams had been formed to investigate the case.

The six arrested are: Cheluvaraju, 26, Chandrashekhara, 23, Raju, 19, Mohan Kumar, 23, Pradeep Kumar, 26 and Bhagyalakshmi, 27.

The mobile phone call records of Bhagyalakshmi and her behaviour gave the game away. Her call log showed she was in touch with Cheluvaraju for many months before the murder and after.

Bhagyalakshmi, it is learnt, had an affair with Cheluvaraju, who was running a newspaper agency on DVG Road. Cheluvaraju and Bhagyalakshmi, classmates in high school, rekindled their friendship, when they met at Gandhi Bazar three years ago.

Police investigations revealed that Shankar, on learning of the affair, had quarrelled with his wife and her friend and had warned Cheluvaraju to stay away.

Investigations also revealed that Bhagyalakshmi instigated Cheluvaraju to kill Shankar. Cheluvaraju and his two associates, Chandrashekar and Raju, were arrested from Nagamangala and Mohan Kumar and Pradeep Kumar from Nagarabavi based on the information given by Bhagyalakshmi.

According to police, Cheluvaraju formed a team of his associates to execute the killing.

Cheluvaraju’s friends Chandrashekara and Pradeep Kumar, his paper delivery boy Raju and Mohan Kumar, his relative, joined him.

Of the five, Cheluvaraju, Chandrashekara and Raju barged into Shankar’s office and hacked him to death. The three had then gone to Goa and Mumbai. The police arrested them when they returned.