<p>A 24-year-old man detained for questioning over his wife’s death escaped from police custody, dodged the cops for quite a distance and fatally jumped from a skywalk near KR Puram, East Bengaluru, in the early hours of Monday.</p>.<p>Sakthivelu, a Madurai native living in Anandapura, was hauled up by cops to the KR Puram police station on Saturday night, hours after his wife Sangeetha, 21, allegedly killed herself, and her parents accused him of torturing her. A purported death note also pointed the finger at Sakthivelu. She had also sent a WhatsApp voice message to her father, saying she was going to kill herself due to her husband’s torture.</p>.<p>Police questioned him throughout Sunday. Around 6.30 am, he asked to relieve himself. A constable took him to the toilet at the backside of the police station. Then in a bolt from the blue, Sakthivelu ran off, jumped the compound wall and was gone.</p>.<p>Cops ran behind him but Sakthivelu proved faster. He then got into an auto and got off near the ITI factory in Dooravani Nagar, about 1.6 km away from the police station. As cops came looking for him, he quickly chinned up the skywalk and jumped down 30 feet. He fell on the left side of a Mahindra XUV 500 and sustained grievous injuries that later proved to be fatal. The police were one minute late in reaching the spot.</p>.<p>Stunned by the incident, police claimed that it was not a case of custodial death. A senior police officer said the CCTV footage clearly showed that Sakthivelu had run away from the police. “It’s a clear case of suicide. There are many eyewitnesses, including the SUV driver (he’s been identified as M G Naik),” a senior police officer said, adding that the investigating officer in the case was planning to arrest Sakthivelu by the afternoon.</p>.<p>Sources said the KR Puram erred by not arresting Sakthivelu earlier and registering an FIR of abetment to suicide against him.</p>.<p>Senior officers, including S Murugan, Additional Commissioner of Police (East), and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Whitefield) D Devaraja, visited the spot. Bengaluru city police chief Kamal Pant has sought a report about the incident. Action is likely against the KR Puram police officers for dereliction of duty.</p>.<p>Devaraja, the DCP, said Sakthivelu and Sangeetha had got married only a year and a half ago, but she killed herself over domestic violence. A case of abetment to suicide has been registered over her death while a case of unnatural death has been registered over Sakthivelu’s death. A third case has been registered against Sakthivelu for escaping from the police station, he added.</p>.<p><strong>Watch latest videos by DH here:</strong></p>
<p>A 24-year-old man detained for questioning over his wife’s death escaped from police custody, dodged the cops for quite a distance and fatally jumped from a skywalk near KR Puram, East Bengaluru, in the early hours of Monday.</p>.<p>Sakthivelu, a Madurai native living in Anandapura, was hauled up by cops to the KR Puram police station on Saturday night, hours after his wife Sangeetha, 21, allegedly killed herself, and her parents accused him of torturing her. A purported death note also pointed the finger at Sakthivelu. She had also sent a WhatsApp voice message to her father, saying she was going to kill herself due to her husband’s torture.</p>.<p>Police questioned him throughout Sunday. Around 6.30 am, he asked to relieve himself. A constable took him to the toilet at the backside of the police station. Then in a bolt from the blue, Sakthivelu ran off, jumped the compound wall and was gone.</p>.<p>Cops ran behind him but Sakthivelu proved faster. He then got into an auto and got off near the ITI factory in Dooravani Nagar, about 1.6 km away from the police station. As cops came looking for him, he quickly chinned up the skywalk and jumped down 30 feet. He fell on the left side of a Mahindra XUV 500 and sustained grievous injuries that later proved to be fatal. The police were one minute late in reaching the spot.</p>.<p>Stunned by the incident, police claimed that it was not a case of custodial death. A senior police officer said the CCTV footage clearly showed that Sakthivelu had run away from the police. “It’s a clear case of suicide. There are many eyewitnesses, including the SUV driver (he’s been identified as M G Naik),” a senior police officer said, adding that the investigating officer in the case was planning to arrest Sakthivelu by the afternoon.</p>.<p>Sources said the KR Puram erred by not arresting Sakthivelu earlier and registering an FIR of abetment to suicide against him.</p>.<p>Senior officers, including S Murugan, Additional Commissioner of Police (East), and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Whitefield) D Devaraja, visited the spot. Bengaluru city police chief Kamal Pant has sought a report about the incident. Action is likely against the KR Puram police officers for dereliction of duty.</p>.<p>Devaraja, the DCP, said Sakthivelu and Sangeetha had got married only a year and a half ago, but she killed herself over domestic violence. A case of abetment to suicide has been registered over her death while a case of unnatural death has been registered over Sakthivelu’s death. A third case has been registered against Sakthivelu for escaping from the police station, he added.</p>.<p><strong>Watch latest videos by DH here:</strong></p>
