Bengaluru: Cops arrest MNC executive in 15-year-old murder case

BENGALURU: A murder-accused who was masquerading as a senior executive in a multi-national company was arrested in the city in a joint operation conducted on Wednesday by central crime branch sleuths and Ahmedabad Police.


The accused, who was on the run for the last 15 years in connection with his wife’s murder, has been identified as Tarun Kumar Jinaraj. He had fabricated his personal records and was working as a senior manager with Oracle (Bannerghatta Road office) using a new name as Pravin Bhateley and stayed in BTM Layout II Stage.


Tarun was the prime suspect in the sensational Sajni Jinaraj murder case that had rocked Ahmedabad Bopal area on February 14, 2003. Tarun had claimed that a few dacoits had struck at his apartment and had killed Sajni (26), a bank executive, before fleeing with valuables. Going by the circumstantial evidence including the manner in which household articles were strewn around in the house, the police suspected the involvement of an insider. Two days after Sajni’s death, Tarun had gone absconding. In the meantime, the Ahmedabad police picked up his parents, brother, sister-in-law and a few others in connection with the case.

However, while filing the chargesheet, the cops dropped charges of murder and booked Tarun under the Dowry Prohibition Act. The move drew criticism from different quarters and Sajni’s parents approached the then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi for help. Her parents suspected Tarun’s role in the murder in order to ensure that he gets to live with his former girlfriend. Following this, the murder case was reopened. During the probe, the alleged girlfriend was quizzed and she maintained that she was married and was not in contact with him.

The Gujarat police, meanwhile, launched a massive manhunt for Tarun and visited several states seeking help. Sources in the CCB said: "The Gujarat police were in contact with us for a long time and had come here many times to collect information. As he had changed his name to Pravin Bhateley and forged documents to live in the city, it was difficult to trace him. After receiving a tip, we zeroed in on the suspect and started following him. He has nabbed him from his office while he was on duty, he worked in the night shift." Sources said Bhateley had made a call to one of his family members who were under police surveillance and that gave away his location.

Tarun had married again and has two children. Though police stated that Tarun has been working with Oracle for the last six years they are yet to find out what Tarun was up to and where he stayed earlier. Police are checking how he succeeded in getting credentials and how he hoodwinked the companies he worked for during employee verification process. He has been taken to Gujarat for further probe.