The Shivamogga police have arrested seven people in connection with the murder of a 57-year-old woman that was reported in Tunga Nagar Police limits on June 18.
The police recovered ₹33.74 lakh of the total ₹35 lakh that the accused took away after murdering Kamalamma, the wife of K.V. Mallikarjun, Executive Engineer of the Water Resources Department. She was murdered by a team of seven people, led by Hanumantha Naik H.R., 22, who had been working as a driver for the family for the last year.
Naik knew about the money being kept at home.
Naik and his friends hatched a conspiracy to take away the cash on June 17, when Mallikarjun was in Goa. Kamalamma was alone at her home then. Naik, along with Pradeep, 21, and Appu Naik, 21, entered the house around 3.30 p.m. and took away the money after killing Kamalamma. They joined Prabhu Naik, 21, Raja, 24, and Sathish, 26, who were all waiting at Gopala locality in a car. They split the amount and ran away to different locations. “They are all friends and have known each other for some years. Another friend, Koushik, had joined the team by providing his car. We arrested him on Thursday,“ the officer said.
The police worked on the clues available and succeeded in arresting the accused, who had scattered soon after the incident. “The incident happened on June 17. However, it came to light only the next morning. Of the total money, the accused have spent ₹1.26 lakh to purchase new phones and to stay at hotels. The rest has been recovered. Besides the cash, we have recovered seven phones, three motorbikes, a weapon, and a car from them,” he said.
The SP also appreciated the police team for cracking the case. The team included DySP B. Balaraju, Inspector Manjunath, PSIs Kumar Kuragunda, Raghuveer M. and others. They were guided by the SP and Additional SP Anil Kumar Bhoomareddy.
