Call records, blood stains lead cops to missing man’s killers

BENGALURU: Initially hunting for a missing person, Varthur police have cracked a murder case based on a separate complaint filed by the man’s stepfather who found blood stains outside his son’s residence.
“On August 21, the man’s wife filed a missing complaint, and a day later, his stepfather lodged a separate complaint claiming that he suspected a man they thought his daughter-in-law had an affair with. He also showed us the blood stains outside the missing person’s house,” police said.

Although they are yet to find the body of Nawaz, 30, a canter owner living in Prithvi Layout, Varthur, police said it was disposed of in Kudremukh, about 330km from Varthur, quoting the confessions of the alleged killers.

The first complaint was filed by Nawaz’s wife Aisha claiming that her husband had left home around 3.30am on August 20, and never returned. Nawaz’s phone remained switched off, prompting police to summon a call detail records statement.

On Friday (August 24), police received the second complaint from Abdul Rehman, Nawaz’s stepfather, who had found blood stains outside the latter’s house where he usually parked his canter. Based on this information, cops registered an abduction and murder case and changed the focus of the investigation.

Rehman suspected the involvement of Shiva Kumar, 27, a resident of Kyalanur village near Vemagal, in the crime. He even alleged that Kumar and Aisha were seen together several times and they may have abducted his son.

As per call records, the last person Nawaz spoke to was Pavan S, 19, also a resident of Vemagal. On questioning him, he confessed to having murdered Nawaz along with Kumar and two others, police claimed. Cops arrested Kumar, his friends Karthik S, 23, and Rakshith R, 19, all residents of Vemagal. Kumar is said to have confessed to being in love with Aisha for years and planning and executing Nawaz’s murder.

The arrested men had contacted Nawaz on the pretext of borrowing his canter to shift a few things to Banashankari. They called Nawaz outside his house, assaulted him with a blunt object and later slit his throat before shifting the body to Kudremukh in Kumar’s cab, police said.

“We will take the accused to the place where they dumped the body. We are trying to find out the role of Nawaz’s wife in the murder,” Abdul Ahad, deputy commissioner of police (Whitefield), said.