A day after a 25-year-old woman was murdered by a spurned lover in Murugeshpalya, the police recorded the statement of the accused, Dinakar Banala, 28.
Dinakar allegedly stabbed Leela 17 times as she was stepping out of her office. She was rushed to hospital, but did not survive the attack.
Banala told the police that he and Leela Pavithra Nalamathi had been in love since 2017. They had studied in the same college and he was her senior.
For the last few months, she had avoided him, saying that her parents were opposed to the marriage since they belonged to different castes.
“Her mother opposed our relationship. Leela blocked me on WhatsApp and avoided my phone calls. I was not able to talk to her and convince her about the marriage. I was madly in love with her. I didn’t want her to marry anyone else, so I decided to kill her,” Banala told the police.
Bheemashankar S Guled, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East), said Leela had been a coder executive assistant at Omega Healthcare, on Wind Tunnel Road in Murugeshpalya, since April, and was staying at a paying guest accommodation. Banala worked for Logis Healthcare in Domlur and stayed at a nearby paying guest accommodation.
Banala was detained from outside Leela’s office, where he allegedly stabbed her repeatedly. When the police approached him, he did not make any effort to escape or resist arrest.
Leela was from Jagannadhapuram in Kakinada, while Banala hails from Narasannapeta in Srikakulam.
Police handed over Leela’s body to her family after post-mortem. They have recorded the statements of Leela’s colleagues who witnessed the brutal attack and rushed her to the hospital.
Omega Healthcare, in a statement, said: “Leela Pavithra was an integral part of our organisation and we will do our best to support her family and police in the ongoing investigation.”
Earlier, the victim had complained to DISHA against Banala, and counsellors had made them arrive at a compromise. DISHA is a mechanism to help women in distress.