Bengaluru, Nov 6 (PTI) In a shocking incident, a cab driver allegedly murdered seven members of his wife's family, including a seven-year-old boy, over domestic disputes in the city, with police suspecting that the killings took place over the last 15 to 20 days, officials said on Friday.
The accused, identified as Indusekar alias Sekar, allegedly committed the murders at his house in the Rajajinagar police station limits and disposed of the bodies at different locations across Karnataka.
The accused has been taken into police custody and is being questioned about the locations where the bodies were disposed of. The police have recovered the child's body following an extensive search near Nandi Hills and launched a search for the remaining six.
"This was not some stray incident. It was an act carried out by an individual who appears to have meticulously planned the murders of his own relatives," Home Minister Priyank Kharge told reporters.
The reasons behind the killings were yet to be fully established, he said.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said a missing-person complaint was registered at Srirampura police station on November 3, following which the investigation revealed the alleged murders. The case was subsequently converted into a murder case and registered at Rajajinagar police station.
According to the police, the seven victims were identified as Sunita, the accused's wife, his mother-in-law Rupavathi; Shivakumar and Shankar, his brothers-in-law; Divya and Nalini, the wives of Shivakumar and Shankar respectively; and Shivakumar and Divya's seven-year-old son Puneeth.
"According to the accused's statement, he had murdered seven of his relatives, including his wife," Singh said.
Only one body had been recovered so far, and efforts were underway to trace the remaining six. Special police teams have been formed and dispatched to various places based on information provided by him, he added.
Singh said the Joint Commissioner of Police and the North Division Deputy Commissioner of Police were personally supervising the investigation.
The murders allegedly took place at the accused's residence in the Rajajinagar police station limits over the last 15 to 20 days.
The exact timeline of the killings was yet to be established, he said.
According to police sources, Sekar allegedly murdered his wife Sunita first, using a grinding stone, and disposed of her body near Nandi Hills in Chikkaballapur district.
He subsequently switched off her mobile phone and allegedly told neighbours that she had gone on a trip to avoid suspicion.
The following day, he allegedly invited Shivakumar and Shankar to his house for a party and killed them. He subsequently murdered Divya, Nalini, Rupavathi and Puneeth, sources said.
The alleged murders came to light after Nalini's mother lodged a missing-person complaint at Srirampura police station on November 3. During the investigation, police uncovered the multiple killings and arrested Shekhar.
Police sources said the accused allegedly used chemicals to clean the house and remove bloodstains after the killings.
The police have seized the car allegedly used to transport the bodies and the grinding stone suspected to have been used in the murders. The accused had allegedly disposed of bodies at different locations, including Nandi Hills and Charmadi Ghat in coastal Karnataka.
Kharge said preliminary investigation suggested that the accused had not been treating his family members properly and that his mental state required examination. However, he cautioned against concluding the motive or his mental condition at this stage.
"Whether it was related to property or whether he was mentally unwell is yet to be established. He has reportedly claimed that he was somewhat depressed because of problems within his family. But we don't know. Let us not jump to conclusions," the home minister said.
He further said the accused had allegedly targeted his wife's family and brainwashed his daughter into assisting him in disposing of the bodies.
The daughter was very young, possibly around 17 or 18 years, and her alleged role was also being investigated, he said.
It has also emerged that Sekar had planned the murder of the Shankar and Nalini's 11-year-old son.
Speaking to reporters the child said his parents and the others had gone on Friday.
"On Friday, I, my father and everyone went home. We had food at their house and slept there. When we woke up the next morning, my father was not there initially," he said.
He then woke up and got up along with his mother to go outside.
By then, his elder sister came, pulled him away and shut the door.
"When the door was closed, I heard my uncle and my mother screaming loudly. I do not know what happened after that," the boy said.
He said Sekar came inside and took him along.
"We first went to the airport. After seeing the airport, we went to the Subramanya temple (in Dakshina Kannada district), then Dharmasthala and from there to Sringeri. We were sleeping in the car throughout the journey," the boy said.
Throughout the journey Sekar would throw the bags, whose content the child was unaware of.
He also said that whenever he asked Sekar about his parents and their phones, he would dodge the question and talked about something else.
According to the boy, Sekar had convinced everyone that all the dead people were incommunicado because they have gone for an all-India trip.
Relatives also said that Sekar kept the phones of his victims with him and would answer their queries through messages on behalf of the dead persons to create an impression they were all alive and were not in a position to answer the phone calls.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)