In the dead of night, a teenager’s gruesome act

The murder of Rajajinagar businessman Jai Kumar, which was plotted by his minor daughter and her male friend Praveen, has left her mother and brother, who arrived from Puducherry on Sunday night, shocked.

Kumar’s body was subjected to postmortem at Victoria Hospital on Monday and handed over to the family.

The police said that on Saturday night, Kumar and the accused daughter had dropped off his wife and his 12-year-old son at the railway station, where they had to take a train to Puducherry to attend a two-day event.

‘Bought pills earlier’

The daughter had already bought sleeping pills from a medical shop on MC Modi Road. Around 12.30 am, the father-daughter duo returned home. Kumar had the habit of drinking rose milk before going to bed. The girl slipped four sleeping pills into the rose milk and offered it to her father. She then called up her friend Praveen who arrived at her house around 1 am with a knife. She picked up a kitchen knife and the two stabbed Kumar who was in deep sleep.

The police said the two might have panicked at the sight of blood and started to wash the blood-stained clothes in a washing machine and a bucket.

The duo then dragged Kumar’s body to the bathroom and spent the rest of the night washing the blood-stained clothes and cleaning the bedroom. Around 7.30 am, the two went to a petrol bunk near Orion Mall and bought a can of petrol.

They then returned home and poured petrol over Kumar’s body and set it ablaze around 10.30 am. In the process, the two sustained burns to their legs, the police said.

The two slipped away from the house and the daughter later arrived when the fire-tenders arrived. Praveen had escaped to his house by then, the police said.

“The minor girl will be produced before a juvenile court soon, while Praveen has been produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody,” said N Shashikumar, DCP (North).

“In their adolescence, children ride high on emotions. Maturity is comparatively less as the cerebral cortex is in a developing stage. It is this part of the brain which lets you into reasoning and logical thinking. In this case, emotions ran high, leading to such impulsive behaviour,” said a renowned clinical psychologist.

How the murder unfolded 12.30 am: Kumar and his daughter drop off his wife and son at the railway station and return home. 1.00 am: Kumar goes to sleep after having rose milk, which is laced with sedatives. 1.15 am: Daughter calls Praveen. 1.30 am: Praveen comes home with a knife. 2.00 am: The duo stabs Kumar to death. 3.00 am: They start cleaning blood-stained clothes. 7.30 am: Duo goes out to buy petrol in a can. 10.00 am: They set Kumar’s body on fire at the bathroom. 10.30 am: Neighbours call fire brigade which rushes to the spot and incident comes to light.