Bengaluru, Nov 7 (PTI) The bodies of a cab driver’s wife and mother-in-law, both of whom were allegedly killed by him, were recovered on Saturday from the Yercaud forest area in Tamil Nadu’s Salem district after an extensive search, police said.
Police said three bodies had been recovered so far in connection with the sensational series of murders allegedly committed by the cab driver over a fortnight.
The accused, cab driver Indusekar alias Sekar, allegedly murdered seven members of his wife’s family, including a seven-year-old boy, over domestic disputes in Bengaluru.
Police suspect the killings took place over the last 15 to 20 days.
On Friday, police recovered the body of the child, identified as Puneeth, following a search near Nandi Hills. Puneeth was the son of Shivakumar and Divya.
Search operations were on at other suspected locations where the accused may have dumped the remaining bodies, those of Shivakumar and Shankar, the accused’s brothers-in-law, and Divya and Nalini, the wives of Shivakumar and Shankar, respectively.
The accused allegedly committed the murders at his house within the Rajajinagar police station limits and disposed of the bodies at different locations across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
During interrogation, the accused said he had disposed of the bodies of his wife and mother-in-law in the Yercaud forest area after killing them. A police team was sent to the spot, where the bodies were recovered after hours of searching, a senior police officer said.
Visuals of the recovered bodies showed they had been wrapped in clothes. The bodies were in a decomposed state.
The exact dates on which the accused allegedly killed his wife and mother-in-law have not been established and are part of the investigation.
The officer said he could not disclose too many details at this stage, adding that police were concentrating on recovering the bodies and collecting evidence, including corroborative evidence.
“We are examining whatever evidence is available,” he said.
Investigators suspect that after allegedly killing his wife, the accused invited his mother-in-law to his house on the pretext of dinner. They are probing the possible role of his daughter, and whether the dinner invitation was part of a plan to bring the mother-in-law to the house. These aspects are still under investigation, they said.
Police suspect the accused may have given sedatives to the victims before allegedly killing them. They are also probing whether he turned up the television volume to drown out noise during the assaults and keep neighbours from hearing or becoming suspicious.
Investigators said these aspects needed to be verified, as further evidence had to be gathered.
Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge said the investigation was still on and that police were questioning the accused’s minor daughter, who appeared to have been “brainwashed”.
He said the girl was being questioned to ascertain whether there had been any abetment, and that it would take another two to three days to gather more information.
Asked about the motive, the minister, citing the preliminary investigation, said the accused had claimed that his wife’s family members did not speak to him properly and had made certain allegations against his wife.
“Neighbours have mentioned that daily quarrels used to take place, with shouting and screaming going on,” he said.
Priyank added that there appeared to be an age difference of around 13 to 15 years between the couple.
The matter came to light after a missing-person complaint was registered at the Srirampura police station on November 3. The investigation then revealed the alleged murders, and the case was converted into a murder case and registered at the Rajajinagar police station.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)