Ballari Murder Case Couple Arrested Burnt Body Canal Blackmail Allegations
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Indian ExpressVerified Publisher
Three people, including a woman and her husband, have been arrested for the alleged murder of a 26-year-old man whose burnt body was found near a canal in Karnataka s Ballari district, with the police saying the accused claimed he had been blackmailing the wom Three people, including a woman and her husband, have been arrested for the alleged murder of a 26-year-old man whose burnt body was found near a canal in Karnataka s Ballari district, with the...
Three people, including a woman and her husband, have been arrested for the alleged murder of a 26-year-old man whose burnt body was found near a canal in Karnataka’s Ballari district, with the police saying the accused claimed he had been blackmailing the woman for over a year.
Basavanagouda Patil, who worked at a private laboratory, went missing on the night of June 7. His semi-charred body was discovered the following morning near the Shivapura-Thambrahalli LLC canal under the Moka Police Station limits.
The police said Dodda Basavanagouda, 36, his wife Shwetha, 30, and her brother Vijay, 23, killed Patil and fled to Bengaluru.
Suman D Pennekar, Superintendent of Police, Ballari, said the three accused were arrested in Bengaluru and remanded to judicial custody.
The investigation initially focused on identifying the victim. The police said Call Detail Records (CDR) showed that Patil’s last calls and messages were exchanged with Shwetha, who could not be traced immediately after the incident, leading investigators to suspect her involvement.
According to investigators, Patil came into contact with Shwetha after her younger sister married his elder brother, Manjunath, about a year ago. During questioning, Shwetha allegedly told the police that Patil had been threatening to circulate her private photographs on social media and had been blackmailing her for nearly a year.
The police said Shwetha claimed she met Patil on March 15 and damaged his phone in an attempt to stop the alleged harassment. However, she alleged that he continued threatening her, claiming the images had been stored elsewhere. Pushed to her limit, Shwetha confided in her husband and brother, and the three devised a plan to kill him, the police added.
They said Shwetha continued communicating with Patil in the days leading up to June 7 and allegedly persuaded him to meet her near the canal. When he arrived, her husband and brother, who were waiting at the spot, allegedly attacked and killed him before setting the body on fire.
“We are yet to ascertain whether Patil really had private photos of Shwetha and whether they had any affair,” a police officer said.