<p>Bengaluru: Bengaluru police have arrested an 18-year-old boy for murdering a 34-year-old software engineer after she rejected his sexual advances. </p><p>Sharmila D K, the deceased woman, was initially believed to have died in a fire accident at her flat in eastern Bengaluru last weekend. </p><p>But police were stumped when they discovered that it was arson and further probe led to the shocking discovery: Karnal Kurai, a PUC student and a neighbour of Sharmila, was behind the murder. Kurai is a native of Virajpet in Kodagu district.</p><p>Hailing from Dakshina Kannada, Sharmila, who was unmarried, lived in a two-bedroom flat at Sankalpa Nilaya in Subramanya Layout and worked at a prominent tech company in Bengaluru. </p><p>Between 10.15 pm and 10.45 pm on January 3, a fire was reported at the flat. Firefighters who doused the blaze found Sharmila's charred body. </p><p>Investigators initially suspected a short circuit as the fire had broken out in the bedroom used by Sharmila’s roommate, who had been away in her hometown in Assam since November 14, 2025. </p><p>However, one of Sharmila’s friends suspected foul play, and the jurisdictional Ramamurthy Nagar police opened a case of unnatural death.</p><p>While the body was sent for post-mortem, Scene Of Crime Officers (SOCO) and forensic analysts examined the flat and found no evidence linking the fire to a short circuit. </p>.How Bengaluru’s layouts ate into parks, playgrounds and public land.<p>"Evidence pointed out that it was arson. The autopsy revealed that the woman died due to suffocation. This, along with technical evidence gathered during the probe, led us to arrest the suspect," a police officer who was part of the probe told DH. </p><p>Police investigations revealed that Kurai allegedly sneaked into her flat through a sliding window around 9 pm and asked her to "cooperate sexually". </p><p>When Sharmila resisted, Kurai, using all his might, tightly held her mouth and nose, rendering her unconscious. During the struggle, she sustained bleeding injuries, police said. </p><p>Kurai then went to the vacant bedroom, gathered Sharmila's clothes and other "incriminating material", and set them on fire to destroy evidence before fleeing with her mobile phone. </p><p>Kurai, who is 18 years and 3 months old, lives with his single mother in Bengaluru. </p><p>Police arrested him from his house on January 10 and secured his custody for three days. Further investigations are underway, an officer said. </p><p>He has been booked under BNS sections 103(1) (punishment for murder), 64(2) (punishment for rape), 66 (punishment for causing death or resulting in persistent vegetative state of victim) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender).</p>
<p>Bengaluru: Bengaluru police have arrested an 18-year-old boy for murdering a 34-year-old software engineer after she rejected his sexual advances. </p><p>Sharmila D K, the deceased woman, was initially believed to have died in a fire accident at her flat in eastern Bengaluru last weekend. </p><p>But police were stumped when they discovered that it was arson and further probe led to the shocking discovery: Karnal Kurai, a PUC student and a neighbour of Sharmila, was behind the murder. Kurai is a native of Virajpet in Kodagu district.</p><p>Hailing from Dakshina Kannada, Sharmila, who was unmarried, lived in a two-bedroom flat at Sankalpa Nilaya in Subramanya Layout and worked at a prominent tech company in Bengaluru. </p><p>Between 10.15 pm and 10.45 pm on January 3, a fire was reported at the flat. Firefighters who doused the blaze found Sharmila's charred body. </p><p>Investigators initially suspected a short circuit as the fire had broken out in the bedroom used by Sharmila’s roommate, who had been away in her hometown in Assam since November 14, 2025. </p><p>However, one of Sharmila’s friends suspected foul play, and the jurisdictional Ramamurthy Nagar police opened a case of unnatural death.</p><p>While the body was sent for post-mortem, Scene Of Crime Officers (SOCO) and forensic analysts examined the flat and found no evidence linking the fire to a short circuit. </p>.How Bengaluru’s layouts ate into parks, playgrounds and public land.<p>"Evidence pointed out that it was arson. The autopsy revealed that the woman died due to suffocation. This, along with technical evidence gathered during the probe, led us to arrest the suspect," a police officer who was part of the probe told DH. </p><p>Police investigations revealed that Kurai allegedly sneaked into her flat through a sliding window around 9 pm and asked her to "cooperate sexually". </p><p>When Sharmila resisted, Kurai, using all his might, tightly held her mouth and nose, rendering her unconscious. During the struggle, she sustained bleeding injuries, police said. </p><p>Kurai then went to the vacant bedroom, gathered Sharmila's clothes and other "incriminating material", and set them on fire to destroy evidence before fleeing with her mobile phone. </p><p>Kurai, who is 18 years and 3 months old, lives with his single mother in Bengaluru. </p><p>Police arrested him from his house on January 10 and secured his custody for three days. Further investigations are underway, an officer said. </p><p>He has been booked under BNS sections 103(1) (punishment for murder), 64(2) (punishment for rape), 66 (punishment for causing death or resulting in persistent vegetative state of victim) and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender).</p>