Bengaluru: Months after mom’s murder, son circulates suspect’s pic via WhatsApp

BENGALURU: Sampangirama Nagar police have failed to crack a 73-year-old homealone woman’s murder case. She was found dead in her flat at KS Garden, Wilson Garden, on February 5.


Nevertheless, the 55-year-old specially challenged son of the woman, Santosh Devi Sultania, is continuing efforts to trace the killer by forwarding the suspect’s photo, grabbed from CCTV footage, to thousands of people via WhatsApp.

Anil Kumar Sultania, who assists his father in runing a family-owned computer accessories supply office, Jey Pee Agencies, on JC Road, claims he has sent the photo to over 3,000 people.

D Devaraja, deputy commissioner of police (central), said a team of Sampangirama Nagar police is probing the case and hopes to solve it soon. “We have summoned several suspects to the station and questioned them,” the DCP said.

The body of Sultania, a resident of four-storey Leesa Apartments and wife of Naurang Lal Sultania, was discovered by her husband around 5.30pm on February 5. She lived with her husband and son Anil in a two-bedroom, first-floor flat. The family, belonging to Rajasthan, has been staying in Bengaluru since 1971.

Naurang had left for the shop around 3.15pm. Santosh’s daughter, who lives in Chennai, called her mother and alerted her father when she didn’t get any response.

Police have questioned hundreds of people, including neighbours, family friends, relatives and office staff of Naurang. Anil has met senior officials, including police commissioner T Suneel Kumar, requesting them to speed up the probe and to know the status.

“Senior officials spoke to Sampangirama Nagar police through the DCP and ACP concerned. Local police visited us to let us know they will crack the case soon,” Anil added. He suggested they form a special team to crack the case as Sampangirama Nagar police claim to be busy with election duty or IPL security.

Box: Two sets of suspects

Sampangirama Nagar police collected CCTV footage from buildings adjacent to Leesa Apartments. “During verification of the footage, police spotted a man astride a scooter parking the vehicle near Santosh’s residence around 3.45pm. His movements were suspicious. He left the spot by 4.30pm. Police strongly suspect the stranger as he seemed to have changed his original appearance by wearing a wig and tried to hide his face from the cameras,” a police officer said.

Anil has forwarded the suspect’s picture to his friends and relatives, with a caption reading, “Please identify the person in the photo who’s missing since 05.02.2019. Any information about him can be given to SR Nagar police station (9480801117).”

Police also found a gang of three men was roaming near Santosh’s residence between 3.30pm and 4.30pm on the day of the murder. “They didn’t visit any shops, residences or hotels on the stretch. We are making efforts to trace the four suspects captured in the footage to interrogate them,” an officer said.