The boy, a friend of the victim’s brother, allegedly stole Rs 2,000 from her purse on May 13 to pay for a friend’s broken spectacles.
BBA student R Prabuddha, the victim, discovered the theft and confronted him at her house in Brindavan Layout, Padmanabhanagar, on May 15, the police said. She demanded that he return the money or she would tell his parents.
The boy fell at her feet and pleaded for mercy. According to the police, things took a dramatic turn when Prabuddha accidentally tripped and fell, suffering a grievous head injury and losing consciousness, leaving a trail of blood in the living room.
Fearing she might regain consciousness and expose him, the boy dragged her into the bathroom, grabbed a knife from the kitchen, and slashed her wrist and neck, the police added. Prabuddha died soon after.
The boy then washed the knife and cleaned the blood in the living room, but left the blood in the bathroom largely untouched.
He sneaked out of the back door, climbed onto the compound of an adjacent building and reached the terrace.
He then jumped across several more terraces to avoid being caught on CCTV cameras and reached his home a few blocks away.
Initially, the police treated the incident as a suicide because there was no sign of forced entry and CCTV cameras did not show anyone entering the house through the main door. They also found three handwritten apology notes. A breakthrough came when CCTV footage showed the boy running down the stairs of a building near his house. Suspecting something amiss, police questioned him and discovered the truth.
Lokesh B Jagalasar, deputy commissioner of police (South), said the boy stole the cash to pay for a friend’s broken spectacles.
“The boy had broken the spectacles of a friend, and the latter had asked him to get them repaired. Afraid to ask at home, he took Rs 2,000 from Prabuddha’s purse when he visited her house on May 13 with her brother,” the DCP told DH.
Published 24 May 2024, 20:59 IST