Gokul Macheri, 33, would have probably got away with a murder if he hadn't been caught making hoax bomb calls to Kempgowda International Airport (KIA) on September 4 to allegedly frame his college sweetheart's husband and neighbour, Saju Jose.
So where did Gokul err? Investigators probing the hoax bomb case said Gokul's presence in his former classmate Dhanya Babu's car on Saturday, when cops were trying to locate the cellphone from which the calls were made, was probably the giveaway.
"On finding that the phone belonged to Saju, we began tracking it. That's when we realized the phone was in the car. We later found it belonged to Saju, Dhanya's husband, and that Dhanya was driving at that time. Like every Saturday , Dhanya had gone to St Anthony's Friary near Forum Mall on Hosur Road," police said.
Initially, cops thought the phone was with Dhanya but were unable to find it. Later, they found the phone in her car. "After questioning Dhanya and Saju we realized they really had no clue about the phone. When we asked Dhanya if anybody was accompanying her in the car earlier in the day , she took Gokul's name," said an investigating officer.
Police then questioned Gokul. To cover up, he expressed his sympathies with Saju but the cops weren't convinced and grilled him again about his church visit with Dhanya. "That's when Gokul realized that he'd been cornered and started spilling the beans," the officer explained.
According to cops, Gokul accompanied Dhanya to St Anthony's Friary every Saturday . "Both Saju and Dhanya were comfortable with that as he was a good friend," they added.