Beautician's murder: Estranged husband, son 'hired' hitmen to grab property

Anjani B R, the husband of the woman

The recent murder of a 45-year-old beautician in southern Bengaluru was committed by four hitmen hired by her estranged husband and son who wanted to grab her Rs 2 crore worth of property, police have concluded.

Geetha, who ran three beauty parlours in HSR Layout, was murdered in her Mangammanapalya home around 2 am on August 16. A few minutes later, her neighbour, Shankarappa, woke up after hearing someone running down the stairs of Geetha’s building. When he came out to check, he saw two men leaving Geetha’s house and three others going in.

When Shankarappa questioned the trio, they claimed to have come from a nearby hospital to take Geetha there. Soon after, doctors declared her brought dead. Shankarappa grew suspicious and called the police.

Police discovered that Geetha had separated from her husband, Anjani B R, 55. The couple’s son, Arun A, 26, lives with the father. When the police called up Varun around 4 am to inform him about the murder, his phone was switched off. Three hours later, he himself came to Geetha’s house and claimed innocence. But police suspected him and detained him for questioning. He finally gave in to sustained grilling and confessed everything, said an officer who’s part of the investigation.

The father and the son allegedly hired four hitmen — Naveen Kumar D, 34, of Mastenahalli, Nagaraju, 22, Pradeep, 22, and Nagaraja alias Naga, 21, all from Chandapura. The hitmen entered Geetha’s house around 2 am on August 16 by breaking the bitumen sheet roof. They not only attacked her but also pounced on her nephew, Nagarjuna, who was living with her at the time. But as they came out of the house after the murder, the neighbour saw them. To feign innocence, three of them re-entered the house by posing as hospital staff, the officer explained.

Srinath M Joshi, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast), said Geetha had separated from her husband and son 15 years ago and had been living separately. Besides running beauty parlours, she worked as a property and loan agent. She had made some property that led to the killing, he added.