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Bengaluru tenant couple kills 65-year-old woman, steals mangalsutra to repay debt
The couple smothered the victim with a pillow and strangled her to ensure she couldn’t scream.
The Subramanyapura police have solved the brutal murder of a 65-year-old woman in Uttarahalli within hours, arresting a young couple who lived as tenants in her house and allegedly killed her for gold to repay mounting debts.
The victim, identified as Shreelakshmi (65), wife of Ashwath Narayan, an incense-stick factory worker from Cottonpet, was found dead with injuries on her face and neck at her residence on Tuesday evening, The Hindu reported.
According to investigators, Shreelakshmi and her husband lived alone and had rented a portion of their house to Prasad Srishaila Makay (26) and his wife Sakshi Hanumantha Hodlura (23), who had been staying there for the past six months.
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On the day of the murder, Ashwath Narayan left for work around 9.30 a.m. and tried calling his wife around 2.15 pm, but she did not answer. Concerned, he contacted another tenant, Phaniraj, at 5.30 pm, asking him to check on her. When Phaniraj returned home at 6 pm, he found Shreelakshmi lying motionless on the floor and alerted her husband, who rushed back to find her dead and her mangalsutra (gold chain) missing, the report further added.
Police were called immediately. Initial clues came from CCTV footage and call records, which helped the Subramanyapura police zero in on Prasad and Sakshi.
Investigations revealed that the couple, originally from Solapur in Maharashtra, had been struggling with a ₹4 lakh debt after investing in a failed business venture.
On Tuesday afternoon, the couple visited Shreelakshmi’s home under the pretext of checking her television, saying they wanted to buy a similar model. While they were preparing to attack her, she received a phone call from her elder sister Sampathi Lakshmi and stepped outside to talk. After she returned inside, the couple struck.
According to police, Sakshi smothered the victim with a pillow while Prasad strangled her to ensure she couldn’t scream. After confirming her death, they fled with her gold chain and the pillow used in the murder.
The Subramanyapura police have booked the couple under Sections 103(1) (murder) and 311 (robbery) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and are investigating further.
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