Man held for killing friend, dismembering body

A 41-year-old man has been arrested on charges of murdering his friend and dismembering the body and dumping it in Belathur area of Bengaluru, a police officer said on Sunday

The officer said that the Ramamurthy Nagar police arrested Madhava Rao (41) on June 6 in Andhra Pradesh for killing his friend Srinath (34), dismembering the body into several pieces and dumping it.

The motive behind the crime was an illicit relationship between Srinath and Rao’s wife, coupled with financial issues, the officer said..

According to police, Srinath, a development officer at the Basaveshwarnagar branch of the chit fund institution, lived with his wife and two children in Anjanadri Layout, Sampigehalli. On May 28, he did not return home from work, prompting his wife to file a missing person report at the Sampigehalli police station the next day.

During investigation by inspector M Prashanth of Sampigehalli police station, a complicated history between Srinath and Rao was revealed.

The police said that Srinath met Rao, who was working at Holobricks, in 2022. Rao had taken ₹5 lakh from Srinath’s chit fund but did not return the money on time. This financial tension led to frequent visits by Srinath to Rao’s house, where he eventually developed an illicit relationship with Rao’s wife. Upon discovering the affair, Rao warned Srinath to stay away, but Srinath continued to demand his money back, leading to numerous altercations, police said.

Ramamurthy Nagara police inspector M Muthu Raj said: “We suspected Rao’s involvement in the crime. We first visited his house, and neighbours said he had left for New York.. Upon scrutinising the nearby CCTV footage, we found Srinath went to Rao’s house on a bike with him at the latter’s house.”

The officer said that Rao bought a machete from Hoskote with the intention of killing Srinath. “On May 28, knowing that Srinath would visit, Rao sent his wife and children to his native village in Andhra Pradesh. When Srinath arrived, Rao struck him on the head with an iron rod, killing him instantly,” he said.

He said: “In an attempt to destroy evidence, Rao dismembered Srinath’s body and stuffed them into three gunny bags and then disposed the bags in a Raja Kaluve near Belathur under the jurisdiction of the Ramamurthy Nagar police station. After meticulously cleaning the house of blood stains, Rao switched off his mobile phone and fled to Andhra Pradesh. The mobile call data records (CDR) confirmed that Rao and Srinath were together on May 28. The technical investigation traced Rao to Andhra Pradesh, where he was taken into custody.”

During the interrogation, Rao confessed to the crime, detailing how he killed Srinath and disposed of the body parts.

Following his confession, Rao was booked under IPC section 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence of crime) at Ramamurthy Nagara police station, and the investigation is ongoing, the officer added.