Karnataka man murders pal to avoid repaying Rs 30L, buries and disinters body before burning it

BENGALURU: A realtor kidnapped his friend and business partner, killed him, buried him 20 feet under, disinterred the body a month later, burnt it in a metal drum and dispersed the ashes in a lake in what appeared to be reenacting of the hit movie Drishyam 2.

However, his plans to improvise the movie's script by introducing a subplot boomeranged and he, along with his two associates, have landed in the police net.

The victim has been identified as Devaraju NC, 65, of Doddaballapur. The arrested are his partner Rajkumar S, 47, mason Anil Mora, 40, and daily wage worker Nagappa Sadhu, 35, all from Doddaballapur. Investigations revealed that Rajkumar owed Devaraju about Rs 30 lakh and killed him as he was unable to repay it.

Devaraju went missing on Oct 17 and the next day, his family lodged a complaint with Doddaballapur Rural police. Cops questioned all his friends, including Rajkumar who pretended innocence.

On Oct 23, a severely injured Rajkumar reached Tumakuru police, claiming he had been kidnapped from his home town in a car and attacked by a few masked men with knives before he jumped out of the vehicle. He was admitted to a private hospital. He was in ICU for a week and later moved to the general ward. By mid-Nov, Rajkumar returned to Doddaballapur.

Meanwhile, police inspector Sadiq Pasha and his team managed to trace Devaraju's gearless scooter to a desolate place near Vijayapura, about 25km from his home. Police called Rajkumar to the station for questioning. This time, cops noticed that most of his stab wounds appeared to be self-inflicted. Bengaluru Rural district SP CK Baba sensed something amiss and found from Tumakuru police that his statements were inconsistent.

"Rajkumar claimed he suspected he had been attacked by Devaraju's men but could not cite any motive. He began making contradictory statements when we questioned him closely," Baba said.

Meanwhile, police discovered that on the evening of Oct 17, Rajkumar had taken Devaraju in his Toyota Innova and Mora was with him. "We started looking for Mora but he had disappeared," an investigating officer said.

Finally, on Dec 20, police succeeded in tracing Mora to a hideout in his hometown of Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh and detained him. Mora cracked first and revealed that he and Rajkumar had killed Devaraju and Sadhu was part of their plot. Rajkumar and Sadhu were arrested.

Planned crime
According to Rajkumar, he decided to eliminate Devaraju to avoid repaying his debt. "He roped in Mora, promising him Rs 5 lakh. First, using an earthmover, they dug a 20-foot deep pit on his vacant land near Infocity, Doddaballapur, on Oct 14. Three days later, they kidnapped Devaraju. Mora strangled him to death in a desolate place near Doddaballapura as Rajkumar held the victim's hands and legs. As planned earlier, they buried the body at night and filled up the pit with soil," police said.

Corpse exhumed
As building constructions were happening near Rajkumar's land, they decided to disinter the body. On Nov 20, the body was exhumed and stuffed into a metal drum. At this stage, Sadhu joined them.

"Pouring petrol into the drum, they burned the body. Taking the drum in a vehicle, the three reached Madhure Lake at night. There, they emptied the drum's contents into the lake," police said. Rajkumar said he cooked up his kidnap story to divert police attention away from him.

What next?
IGP (central range) Labhuram said they have sent the samples like hair they found in the lake to the Forensic Science Laboratory. "The hair samples, on being subjected to DNA tests, will identify whether they were Devaraju's or not," he said.