Pramesh S Jain & Yogesh K Porwar
In a joint operation by RPF personnel and railway police cracked the murder case of a woman who was strangled to death and body was stuffed in a plastic drum which was found abandoned outside the Byappanahalli railway station entrance on Sunday.
Following the CCTV footage the police track down the accused and arrested Kamaal, 21, Tanvir, 28 and Shakib, 25 native of Bihar and labourers working in city market, while the prime accused Nawab and his four associates are on the run.
Efforts are on to track them down,Soumyalatha, Superintendent of Police,Railways,who headed the investigations,said .
The incident occurred on Sunday evening when RPF personnel who were on rounds found the abandoned drum and found the highly decomposed body of a woman stuffed inside.
Based on the complaint the Byappanahalli police have registered a case of murder and followed the clues before tracking down the three accused.
Probe revealed that the deceased Tamanna,27,was married to Afroz, a physically challenged man from Bihar in 2020 but later dumped him to elope with husband Cousin Intiqab to Bengaluru,
Intiqab is working as AC mechanic in Jigani married Tamanna and started living with her for the past eight months.
The prime accused Nawab is elder brother of Intiqab came to know about this and furious on Tamanna for spoiling the reputation of the family at their native and also the life of his younger brother.
As per the plan,Nawab invited the couple for lunch and later threatened Intiqab to go home as they are sending Tamanna to her native by train.
Intiqab tried to resist following which he was threatened by Nawab with dire consequences .
Scared by this Intiqab returned home alone and the accused later tortured her and strangled her to death before packing her body in a drum with an intention to transport to Bihar to cook up a story and create alibi.
The accused even broke the hands and legs of the body so that it can fit into the drum and sealed properly.
When the accused reached Byappanahalli police they noticed heavy rush and police presence .
Sensing danger they left the drum at the entrance and escaped in an autorickshaw.
The police who swung into action,found a sticker and address on the drum and contacted to get some details of the accused which could help them to zero in on the accused,Ms.Soumyalatha,said .
Meanwhile Intiqab after waiting for two days worried about Tamanna and called her sister to confirm whether she reached .
When he got the reply in negative Intiqab tried to reach his brother who is out of reach and vcame in search of him at his house in kalasipalya where the couple had visited .
A plain cloth policemen who were keeping a watch at the house detained Intiqab and brought him for questioning.
So far there was no evidence about his involvement in the crime, but investigations are on, a police officer, said .
The police are also awaiting post-moretem report to ascertain the cause of death and any sexual assault on the victim, the police added.
Director General and Inspector General of Police , Praveen Sood,appreciated the police team for cracking the case and announced a cash reward .
The incident had gripped panic among general public as rumours floated that serial killer was on prowl as two such cases of women being killed and packed in drums and a gunny bag reported in different police station since December last year.
Finally, DG-IGP, Praveen Sood, DIG,Railways,N Shashikumar,has appreciated SP, Railways, Dr SK Soumyalatha,DYSP Ravikumar,and others has been appreciated for the exemplary and meticulous investigation done by them in nabbing the trio a 50,000 rupees reward has been announced to the team .
