'Perfect' whodunit: Tenant kills landlady in Bengaluru, leaves no clue whatsoever

Cracking the murder proved challenging for the police, but old-fashioned detective work saw them through

It was a murder most foul and a perfect whodunit.

The crime scene was contaminated. There was no CCTV footage. And nobody had seen anyone whom the police could even remotely suspect to be the killer.

But just when the police thought they had hit a wall, old-fashioned detective work saw them through.

Yasodamma (75) was stabbed as many as 60 times in her ground-floor home in Vinayaka Nagar, South Bengaluru. The killer was none other than her second-floor tenant, Jai Kishan, a marketing officer at a software company.

Kishan had suffered huge losses in the stock market and was deep in debt. His troubles compounded when lenders started paying him unexpected visits. Yasodamma had also lent him Rs 40,000 and wanted it back.

On July 1 and 2, she even had an argument with Kishan about the money. The argument went too far and Kishan ended up killing her, P Krishnakant, DCP (South), said on Sunday. “It was a fit-of-rage murder,” he added.

Kishan stabbed her so many times because he used a small knife. He then removed the jewellery from her person, shut the door behind and sneaked out. It was as if nothing happened.

Cracking the murder proved challenging for the police.

Around 9.30 am on July 2, Kishan called up Yasodamma’s son, Raju, 61, who lives in Banashankari 3rd Stage. He told him that Yasodamma was lying in a pool of blood at home. Unaware of the gravity of the situation, Raju sent his son Srinivas. But 10 minutes later, the son asked him to come instead.

When Raju rushed there, a gory scene awaited him. His mother was lying in a pool of blood on the divan bed. There was blood on the bed and the walls.

Nataraj, another tenant, called up an ambulance and Yasodamma was taken to Prashant Hospital where doctors said she was dead and asked the family to take her to KIMS Hospital. The crime scene was contaminated in the process.

Nataraj told the police he last spoke to Yasodamma around 11 am on July 1. He also saw lighting in her house around midnight on July 2.

“It may appear to be a simple crime because somebody in the same building was the killer. He didn’t leave the building. But we didn’t have a clue because there was no CCTV footage. Nobody saw anything,” Krishnakant said.

To mislead the police, Kishan helped the family.

Since Yasodamma’s jewellery was missing, police decided to check the pawnbrokers and jewellery stores. They suspected some five people but the evidence was thin.

Police got the lead after learning Kishan had got Rs 4-5 lakh and repaid his lenders. He gave in after sustained grilling. He is in police custody for a week, the DCP said.