Behind Bengaluru bomb hoax, a woman’s attempt to frame her husband

Bengaluru: A 32-year-old married Bengaluru woman is found to have initiated the hoax bomb threat in collusion with her Bihari “lover” to frame her husband.

But the plan backfired spectacularly, landing her in police custody.

Nearly six months ago, Vidyarani connected with 34-year-old Ram Keshav Prasad on a job search app called 'Apna'. Their relationship quickly deepened. But Vidyarani’s 34-year-old husband, Kiran, came to know that his wife was regularly texting Prasad. He broke her phone to stop all communication and to separate them, but she convinced Kiran to get her a new phone and soon broke up with Prasad.

A police officer close to the probe said that Prasad then created a fictional character, 'Ajit', in a desperate bid to rekindle the relationship.

"Prasad got a new number and texted Vidyarani as his friend 'Ajit', convincing her to get back in touch with him," the officer explained, adding that Prasad sounded so genuine that Vidyarani did not realise that 'Ajit' was his creation. The police claimed that later she purportedly befriended this ‘Ajit’.

Vidyarani and Prasad decided to fabricate a bomb threat story to frame Kiran to get him out of the way of their relationship.

As per their plan, Prasad drafted the bomb hoax message and sent it to Vidyarani, asking her to send it to her 'friend Ajit' from her husband’s phone. Vidyarani followed his instructions and sent the message, using Kiran's phone, to 'Ajit', who subsequently forwarded it to police informants in Bihar. These informants then relayed the message to the Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and national security agencies through the Bihar police so that Kiran could be nabbed for the “crime”.

Anekal police, acting on a tip-off from the central agencies, initially arrested Kiran, but the message had been deleted from his phone. Subsequent investigations, however, exposed Vidyarani's role as the actual sender of the message from her husband's phone.

The police then discovered Vidyarani’s romantic involvement with Prasad and their plan to elope by framing Kiran.

When Prasad broached elopement, Vidyarani insisted he should take her away from Karnataka. The duo also conspired to eliminate Kiran. 

Mallikarjun Baldandi, Superintendent of Police, Bengaluru District, revealed that a police team has been sent to Bihar to arrest Prasad.