Bengaluru: Loan dispute turns deadly as man kills cousin after latter demands his money back

Bengaluru: Attibele police have cracked a sensational murder case where a software engineer was killed over a financial dispute and his body was buried inside a house in Andhra Pradesh.

The police arrested the victim's cousin brother Prabhakar, (40), who was involved in an earlier murder case.

The victim has been identified as Srinath (34), a native of Kuppam in Andhra Pradesh, who was living with his wife and child near Neralur near Attibele. He worked in an IT firm in Bilekahalli.

34-year-old victim Srinath

A senior police officer said that Prabhakar, who is Srinath’s paternal uncle’s son — had borrowed ₹40 lakh from him, promising to double the money a few months ago. Recently, Srinath asked Prabhakar to return the money.

On October 27, Prabhakar, a plumber by profession, called Srinath to Kuppam on the pretext of returning the money. Srinath informed his wife before leaving and took a bus to reach Kuppam.

Srinath entered Prabhakar’s house and after a while Prabhakar attacked him with a hammer, slamming him on the head and killing him on the spot. With the help of his friend Jagadish, Prabhakar dug a pit inside the same house and buried the body.

As Srinath did not return home for two days, his wife Neha M P had filed a missing complaint at the Attibele police station. During questioning, police found involvement of Prabhakar and Jagadish and both were grilled for a day. They confessed to the murder.

It is said that Prabhakar was in jail after he had helped one of his friends to kill his wife over a domestic dispute a few years ago.