With the help of Call Detail Records (CDR) analysis, Aland police have resolved the murder case reported from Central University of Karnataka (CUK) campus at Kadaganchi village in Aland taluk, about 23 km from here. The police, at about 4 a.m. on Thursday, arrested Shantappa (23) and Ganesh (18), shepherds by profession and residents of Kadaganchi village, on the charges of committing the offence. Lakshman (20), another resident of the village, who had been remotely connected in the case by purchasing the stolen mobile, was also arrested.
Prasad (23), a resident of Byalahalli village in Bidar district who was studying in Hyderabad, had come to CUK campus on September 22 for celebrating the birthday of his girlfriend who was studying there. He was murdered on the same evening when he was with his girlfriend at a newly constructed and unoccupied building on the campus. His younger brother, Atmananda, lodged the complaint with Narona police station in Aland taluk accusing the victim’s girlfriend of hatching the murder plot.
“Our investigation proceeded on the same direction seeing the victim’s girlfriend as the main suspect. However, in the process, it emerged that she was innocent. The crime was committed by two youth who attempted to rob the couple and stabbed the victim in their bid to escape with the robbed valuables. Though their motive was robbery, it ended in the murder,” N. Shashikumar, Superintendent of Police, said at a media conference at the police headquarters here on Thursday. He added that the accused were habitual offenders involved in robbing couples and individuals who roamed at isolated places on the campus during evening hours.
He said that the analysis of call records of the mobiles stolen from the victims helped the investigating police team to zero in on the perpetrators of the crime.
“The accused had made away with the mobiles of the victim and his girlfriend. They sold the girl’s mobile to Lakshman for ₹1,000. The investigating team tracked the phone and took Lakshman into its custody. During interrogation, he revealed the names of the two youth who had sold the mobile to him. Then the team arrested the accused who, during the interrogation, confessed to the crime,” he said.
“The case could have been resolved much earlier if the complaint was not lodged. We had initiated the investigation taking the victim’s girlfriend as the prime suspect as she was, in the complaint, accused of murdering her boyfriend. We had to look for another angle only after her innocence was established during the investigation,” H.B. Sannamani, circle inspector (Aland) and the investigating officer in the case, told The Hindu later.