Domestic help, three others held for murdering businessman

By Hameed Ashraf / NT
Bengaluru

The city police have arrested four people in connection with the murder of a 75-year-old businessman from Chamrajapet. Apart from the prime accused Bijuram, who was arrested on May 29, police arrested three others identified as Mahendra Devati, Poran Devati and Om Prakash.

On May 25, Jagguraj Jain, owner of Deepam Electricals in SV Lane of Chickpet was found brutally murdered at his residence in the city. Preliminary investigations revealed that the elderly man was assaulted and tied up before being strangled to death, a day before the incident came to light. Police also found traces of chilli powder which had been thrown into the eyes of the deceased.
Suspecting the man hired as domestic help for the family to be the prime accused in the case, the police traced Bijuram, who was found absconding, and arrested him.
A detailed probe by the cops revealed that Jain lived in King’s Enclave apartment on the 4th Main Road in Chamarajpet with his younger son Anand Kumar and his family. They had hired Bijuram from Jaipur six months ago who used to pick up Jain from his shop and drop him at his residence every day.
On May 24, Jain closed his shop around 9 pm and reached home by 9:30 pm along with Bijuram. His son Anand had been to Goa and his daughter-in-law was at her parent’s house in Shivamogga district, police said.

The murder actually came to light after Jain’s grandson Prateek visited the apartment the next day to check on him because he was not answering his phone. Jain’s body was found in the bathroom with his hands tied and mouth covered with a piece of cloth.
The police said that thedoors of a wardrobe were ajar and jewellery boxes were found scattered on the bed in one of the rooms. A huge amount of valuables including cash, gold and silver items were reportedly missing from the house.

A probe was launched to nab Bijuram and the cops alerted all police stations across Bengaluru to monitor the exit points of the city. However, speculating that the accused might have already fled to his hometown, the city police alerted their counterparts in Gujarat and Rajasthan regarding the incident. Additional commissioner of police (Bengaluru West) Sandeep Patil later said that a team was sent to the respective states to nab the suspect.

Later, Bijuram was caught while trying to cross the Amirgadh border between Rajasthan and Gujarat by the police monitoring the check post to inspect the vehicles. The police also found valuables worth Rs 24 lakh along with him. He was then brought to Bengaluru where he confessed to have committed the crime.

According to police, Bijuram said that he was constantly being harassed by his wife to earn more money to lead a luxurious life. Bijuram was paid Rs 15,000 a month by Jain which was insufficient for him.
“The accused had observed daily transactions made by Jain, which tempted him to plan the murder. He had disclosed his plot with one of his friends, Om Prakash, which in turn introduced him to Mahendra Devati and Poran Devati. The trio directed Bijuram and helped him escape from the city,” police said. “All four accused have been arrested,” police added.

It was found that the accused fled to Chitradurga by bus and then to Hubballi. Then they took a train to Goa where they stashed the stolen valuables inside a rented room and fled to Rajasthan along with some of the cash.

Based on their statements, police recovered valuables worth Rs 4.93 crore including 8.7 kg gold, 4kg silver and 53 lakh in cash that the accused had stolen from Jain’s house.