He kept away mobile; evaded cops awhile

If all had gone well, he would have been a month-old in his job, pocketing salary. Now, owing to turn of events he has landed in jail.

This is the story of Shivu, co-accused in the case of honour killing, who was apprehended by Nazarbad police here on Sunday night. Shivu along with prime accused in the case Mahadeva, also his cousin, had done to death Smriti alias Shruti.

Smriti, a Lingayat, an assistant professor in Government PU College in Kuderu in Chamarajanagar district was strangled allegedly by her brother Mahadeva on March 13, when the former didn’t accede to the latter’s request to severe ties with her lover Sudeep Kumar, a dalit. He is the assistant director of Physical Education, at Tumkur University.

According to police sources, Mahadeva who surrendered after evading investigators for a day, dissuaded Shivu, who too had wanted to surrender, thinking that he was the only accused in the case. Since then, Shivu had been moving from one place to another. A native of Hadya in the district, he has passed second PUC.

He had secured a job of a supervisor with private marketing agency dealing with beverages. The pay was fixed at Rs 9,000. With just a few days left to join work, the incident occurred, with him on the run.

He had been hiding at Shanivarasanthe for a period of 10 to 12 days, also the longest when compared to his short stay of two to three days at other places like- Hunsur, Bilikere and also Kushalnagar. The motorcycle and Rs 8,000 in cash, he had in his possession were the only belongings he could rely upon during the period.

What came in handy in his hiding was, not using the cellphone. It’s the only device that has helped police in tracking the perpetrators in most cases, embracing ‘call details record’ technology. The only occasion he used cellphone, but of his relative was to contact the advocate. He had plans to obtain anticipatory bail. It’s also one of the reasons (bid to get anticipatory bail) that facilitated investigators to nab Shivu.