Man held for killing live-in partner, staging it as suicide: Police

According to police, the man murdered his partner, three years elder than him, after she insisted on getting married.

Bengaluru police arrested a 24-year-old man for murdering his live-in partner and staged it as a suicide to evade arrest, officials said on Friday.

Bengaluru police arrested a 24-year-old man for murdering his live-in partner and staged it as a suicide. (Representative use)

According to police, the man murdered his partner, three years elder than him, after she insisted on getting married.

The accused in custody, Prashant, is a resident of Singasandra and was working at a warehouse of an e-commerce company. The victim, Sunita, 27, was living with him for the past three years, said police.

Sunita hails from Andhra Pradesh and is married.

However, three years ago she separated from her husband and came to Bengaluru. “She initially lived with an acquaintance and even started identifying herself as Deepu,” said a police officer.

Prashant, who was living in the same neighbourhood as she, became close and eventually, they decided to move in together. “When they moved in, she wanted to get married, but Prashant told her to wait until his sister gets married. She agreed to live with him,” said police.

However, recently, Sunita raised concerns over the delay in getting married and the couple used to get into arguments over the same, police added.

On December 6, he attacked her and later strangled her to death. He then hung the body from the ceiling fan. The next day, he informed a hospital about the suicide, according to police.

However, when the hospital staff investigated the body, they found injury marks on her neck and informed the police.

“Based on the mobile number used by the woman, the parents were traced and called to the hospital. He saw the dead body and identified it as his daughter Sunita. Later, a post-mortem examination was conducted, and the dead body was handed over to the family members,” said police.