Suitcase murder: Bengaluru police bring back suspect from Maharashtra

Bengaluru: Bengaluru police have brought back Rakesh Rajendra Khedekar, the 36-year-old prime suspect in the murder of his wife, from Maharashtra, officials said.

Rakesh has been accused of killing his wife, Gauri Anil Sambrekar alias Gauri Khedekar (32), at their rented house in Doddakammanahalli near Hulimavu last week. He allegedly stuffed her body into a trolley bag before fleeing to Maharashtra. Gauri’s body was discovered on Thursday inside the bag in the washroom. After consuming phenyl, Rakesh was admitted to a private hospital in
Maharashtra.

Once doctors declared him fit for travel, a Bengaluru police team secured a transit remand from a local court and brought him back to the city on Saturday evening.

He was produced before a magistrate, who remanded him to judicial custody for 14 days.

“We will soon seek a body warrant to take him into police custody for further interrogation,” a senior officer told DH. “He is stable now, and we approached the court only after receiving medical clearance.”

Suspect called neighbour 

According to the FIR, Rakesh made a call around 4.35 pm on Thursday to his neighbour, Prabhu Singh, who lives on the ground floor of the same rented house, police said.

Singh informed the landlord, Sanitha G, the complainant in the case.

Rakesh allegedly told Singh that his wife’s body was inside the house and asked him to notify the police. Sanitha immediately called the police control room at 112.

A police team was dispatched to the scene and, after breaking into the locked house, found the trolley bag near the washroom with Gauri’s body inside.

Investigators believe that Rakesh, a project manager at a reputed private company in the city, killed his wife in a fit of rage during a heated argument over their financial
situation.

The police suspect he intended to dispose of the body but abandoned the plan when the trolley bag’s handle broke. He then fled the city.