Wife, her two friends held over Hyd bizman’s murder

Madikeri: Kodagu police have cracked the case of murder of a Hyderabad-based businessman within few days of the incident in Kodagu district.
According to police, Ramesh Kumar, 54, was allegedly killed by his wife along with two of her friends, and the body was disposed off at a remote place in the district. The case is connected to a land worth Rs 8 crore, police stated.
The accused tried to destroy the body by setting it afire at a coffee estate near Suntikoppa police station in the district. Three accused were arrested, Kodagu police stated.
On Oct 8, coffee plantation workers saw the body of an unidentified man, who had been strangulated to death. Kodagu SP Ramarajan visited the crime scene.
A team of 16 police personnel, led by ASP Sundar Raj and DSP R V Gangadharappa, and split into four groups, was tasked with the probe. The team initially focused on identifying the body by scanning more than 500 CCTV camera feeds and vehicles that travelled in the area, and also combed through cellphone calls, the SP stated.
After collecting information on missing persons in the neighbouring districts, the deceased was identified as Ramesh Kumar, a native of Hyderabad. His wife, P Niharika, 29, and her friends — Ankul Rana from Haryana and Nikhil from Bengaluru — were subsequently arrested.
Niharika, who was married to Kumar, hatched a plan to eliminate him to get Rs 8 crore from the sale of a property. She asked Rana to come to Hyderabad. On Oct 3, she took Kumar in his car, which had Telangana state registration plate. Rana also accompanied them in the car.
They trio went in the car near Uppal, where Niharika and Rana allegedly murdered Kumar. They carried his body to Horamavu in Bengaluru, where 29-year-old Niharika, asked Nikhil, 28, a resident of Bengaluru, to join them. The accused brought the body to the coffee estate near Suntikoppa and set it on fire, police said.
Niharika hails from Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district in Telangana, while Nikhil is from Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh.
The investigation team cracked the case by tracking the movement of the car bearing Telangana registration plate. After police quizzed Niharika and Nikhil, the latter spilled the beans. The high-end car, cellphones, and other items used in the crime have been recovered from the duo.