Three held for murder of a man

 
They arrested Samuel (32), Saravan (26) and Shobha (35) for stabbing Gopal (40) to death over an illicit relationship. Samuel, Saravan and Rajashekhar were the tenants of a house owned by Gopal in Byappanahalli. An illicit relationship developed between Gopal and Samuel’s girl friend. As a revenge, Samuel managed to have an affair with Shobha, wife of Gopal. Upon coming to know of the affair, Gopal started torturing Samuel and Shobha, said the police.

Samuel and Shobha decided to eliminate Gopal and took the help of Saravan and Rajashekhar. They invited Gopal to BTM Layout on November 4, 2007 and took him in a van towards Belakavadi in Malavalli taluk of Mandya district where he was gagged and stabbed to death. They burnt the body with kerosene, later.

Shobha lodged a missing complaint with the Byappanahalli police 15 days after the murder. Meanwhile, the Belakawadi police found a half-burnt body on November 5, 2007 and registered a case. Later, they closed the case citing non-availability of clues and failure to establish identity of the body. Meanwhile, Shobha withdrew the complaint on January 21, 2008 claiming she found out whereabouts of her husband and he was in contact with her, said the police.

The City Police Commissioner Shankar M Bidari directed jurisdictional police to conduct special inquiry into the complaints of missing persons, recently. The police, accordingly  secured Shobha and Samuel for questioning who spilled the beans during the interrogation. Another accused Rajashekhar is still at large, said the police.