Geologist murder case: Sacked car driver held, 'confesses to crime'

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Cracking the murder case of a senior geologist in the city, the police held her former car driver on Monday whom the geololist had sacked recently.

The police claimed that following an interrogation, the driver confessed to have killed the woman in a fit of rage.

The accused was identified as Kiran, 32, a resident of Konanakunte in Bengaluru. It was learnt that he had been working as a driver for Pratima KS, a senior geologist at the Mines and Geology Department, for the past five years.

On Sunday mor ning, Pratima was found murdered with her throat slit at her rented flat in Doddakallasandra of Subramanyapura Police Station limits.

Following inspection, the police recorded the statements from neighbours, friends, colleagues and relatives of the woman after which they came to know that Pratima had recently sacked her car driver Kiran and hired a new person on the job.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, South Division, Rahul Kumar Shahpurwad said, "The police tracked Kiran and brought him from Male Mahadeshwara Hills in Chamarajanagar district after which he confessed to have murdered the woman," he said.

Sources told News Trail that a few weeks back while Kiran was driving Pratima back to her residence, he had allegedly overheard her speaking over the phone regarding raids on officials involved in illegal mining.

This information was leaked to a few officials at the office and later Pratima found Kiran to be behind this. Disappointed with him, Pratima had sacked him from his job.

The police further said that following his termination from job, Kiran was depressed and approached Pratima on several occasions requesting her to reinstate him.

During an investigation, the police found that when Kiran married his wife, he had claimed that he was a government employee. But after Kiran was sacked, his wife came to know the truth and she left him to live with her parents. He was dejected by the incident, the police added. "On Saturday the accused again came to Pratima repeating his request. However when

the official refused to reappoint him, the accused got angry and allegedly grabbed her dupatta and used it to strangle her. He shifted her body to the bedroom before slitting her throat using a kitchen knife and fled the scene. He switched off his mobile phone and left the city," police said.

Pratima's brother, Pratish, a Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) contractor, tried to call her on Saturday night but when his call went unanswered, he came to meet her on Sunday morning but found her lying dead.

"She was a hard-working and strong-willed woman. She never discussed work at home. We need justice and it should not happen to anyone," Pratish said. The DCP later said that the second ACMM court in the city had remanded Kiran to police custody until November 15.