A short-lived birthday celebration
Police suspect involvement of known persons in the triple murder
Barely three weeks before interior designer Rahul Das and his family were murdered, their house 'Moharagni' was humming with the joy of the birthday party of their 10-year-old daughter, Agnesha.
She had invited about 150 guests and did a hostess’s job remarkably well. Unfortunately it turned out be a short-lived celebration. “Agnesha was a very cheerful girl, always full of life. She delighted us all in her birthday party. Uncle (Rahul Das) and aunt (Pushpalatha) were also very well-behaved, cultured and elegant. Uncle’s personality cannot be described in better words,” a family friend, who preferred anonymity, told Deccan Herald.
She is yet to come to terms that the family was treated so horribly. “I cannot describe the sorrow which has engulfed our whole family. Agnesha was my schoolmate at Sun Shine School,” she revealed.
No enmity
Rahul Das had graduated in management from Coimbatore University. He earlier worked with ANC in Indiranagar. Later, he started his own interior designing firm, Delta System, and was running it from the first floor of the house. It has its branch in Coimbatore. Rahul’s father B B Das lives in Assam. The family was held in high esteem. They did not have enmity with anyone, the staff of the firm said.
Shantamma, the domestic help of the victims said, “When I last saw the family on Tuesday, Pushapalatha served me with ‘raagi mudde’. I relished them and later washed the utensils. She treated me well. She was very caring and benign. I had joined just a month ago. She never made me complain about anything.”
Pushpalatha hailed from Sagar in Shimoga district. They earlier lived in a rented house in Banaswadi and had moved to their own house recently.
Police believe that the murder could be the handiwork of acquaintances as there is nothing to indicate forced entry. The door was locked after the ghastly act.
Nothing had been ransacked and prima facie it seemed to be perpetrated by someone whom the family knew. The funeral is slated to be held at the Byappanahalli crematorium once the bodies are handed over to the relatives.
