The case of the murder of KS Prathima, a senior geologist from Karnataka, has been cracked by the Bengaluru police in less than 24 hours. The investigation revealed that a driver who was laid off from his job in October was behind the heinous act.
Identified as Kiran, the driver, it is learnt, attacked Prathima in a fit of anger after she refused to recommend his reinstatement despite his repeated requests.
“The case has been solved. The sole reason for the murder was that she (Prathima) had removed Kiran from the driver’s job. It is purely a personal issue that led to this,” said Rahul Kumar Shahapurwad, Deputy Commissioner (South), to News18.
Kiran had been working for nearly eight years with the department on a contract basis and was recently removed from his job with another driver replacing him, News18 has learnt.
It certainly was a challenge for the investigating officer to crack the case as the lack of CCTV footage (the building did not have security cameras) and the fact that valuables were intact made it difficult to gather clues. However, through meticulous evidence gathering and thorough investigation, the police were able to track the accused Kiran, who had fled to Chamarajanagar.
According to the police, Kiran had gone to Prathima’s residence to plead and get his job back. An official close to the investigation told News18 that Kiran had financial troubles, and with his wife pregnant, he was desperate to get his job back.
Police officers also said that Kiran was involved in an accident two months ago, and there was suspicion that he was leaking information about impending raids by Prathima’s department against illegal mining activities.
On Saturday, after work, Prathima is said to have been dropped home by her new driver, and the official car was parked near her residence before he left for the day. The accused Kiran, who had worked with the officer for several years, was aware of her daily routine and used that to confront her while she was alone at her home, police investigations revealed.
Kiran is said to have waited for her to return home and confronted her at her flat in Subramanyapura. The accused allegedly confessed to attacking her, strangling her in a fit of rage. He is later said to have entered the kitchen and obtained a knife to slit her throat to make it look like a robbery gone wrong. He later dragged the body into the house and may have locked the grill from the inside through the gap so that neighbours would not become suspicious.
The body of the 45-year-old Karnataka government officer was found in a pool of blood inside her home by her brother Prathish early Sunday morning (November 5). He had tried to contact her, and his calls went unanswered on Saturday night. Worried, he reached her residence on Sunday morning to find Prathima murdered. Police officials said the murder was reported to them in Doddakallasandra in Subramanyapura police limits around 8.30 am on Sunday. The lady officer was home alone as her husband and son resided in Shivamogga.
“Prathima was first strangled, and later her throat was slit. Further details will be known after the post-mortem,” a senior police official told this reporter.
Dayananda KA, Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru Urban, who had met Prathima earlier in the week as part of a review meeting, called her a “proactive and positive officer”.
“She had met me for official work at the office and spoken to me about the challenges that were being faced with regards to controlling the entry of lorries from Tamil Nadu into Bengaluru. In a review meeting held a month ago, she was advised to control illegal mining and also focus on monitoring the lorries illegally transporting gravel stones from Tamil Nadu,” he said.
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