Bengaluru woman plots with 'wealthy new boyfriend' to kill live-in partner

Bengaluru: A beauty parlour owner and her boyfriend hired two killers to eliminate her live-in partner, according to police. Three suspects have been arrested while police are hunting for the fourth. 

The woman wanted to ditch her live-in partner and get into a relationship with her new boyfriend because she thought he would fund the expansion of her business, police investigations show. 

The suspects fatally hacked the victim with machetes and threw the body into Dakshina Pinakini River in southeastern Bengaluru on the night of October 26, police say. 

Police retrieved the body of the deceased, identified as Chethan, from Dakshina Pinakini River near Mugalur in Sarjapur on October 27. 

The next day, a missing person complaint was filed at the KR Puram police station. 

An examination of Chethan’s acquaintances and associates gave rise to suspicions about his live-in partner Shobha and the couple's common friend Satish. 

Police detained Satish for questioning and soon solved the mystery. 

An officer close to the investigation said that Shoba and Satish had ganged up to "keep Chethan out of the way". They hired Shashi and Madhu as hitmen for the job. 

Shoba, Satish, Chethan and the two hitmen partied at a bar on the night of October 26. Shoba left after having a couple of drinks while others stayed on. Chethan and others also left after a while. They all travelled in a car and ostensibly headed home to KR Puram. 

But midway, the trio made a pit stop at a desolate place near Mugalur and pounced on Chethan. They pulled machetes and hacked him to death. They later threw the body into the river, the officer said. 

Police have arrested Satish, Shoba and Shashi while Madhu is on the run, said Mallikarjun Baladandi, Superintendent of Police, Bengaluru Rural. 

“Shoba and Satish hired two people to kill Chethan for Rs 70,000. All of them partied together and later hacked Chethan to death before throwing the body into the river,” Baladandi said. 

Shoba runs a beauty parlour and was in a live-in relationship with Chethan for three years. She recently met Satish through a common friend and grew closer to him. 

“Satish is a wealthy man,” an officer said. “Shoba saw an opportunity to grow her beauty parlour business if she was in a relationship with him. But since she was in a relationship with Chethan, she wanted him to be eliminated." 

Police investigations showed that Shoba was previously jailed in a criminal case and was released on bail.