Bengaluru woke on Friday to one of the most shocking crimes the city has seen in recent years, after police arrested a cab driver who allegedly murdered his wife and six members of her family at his home in the Rajajinagar area and dumped their bodies at different places on the outskirts of the city. The accused, identified by police as Indushekar, has reportedly confessed to the killings during questioning, though only one of the seven bodies has been recovered so far.
The victims have been identified as the accused's wife Sunita, his mother-in-law Roopavathi, his brothers-in-law Shivakumar and Shankar, their wives Divya and Nalini, and seven-year-old Puneeth, the young son of one of the brothers-in-law. Police said the killings took place at the accused's house in a residential neighbourhood on 59th Cross, near Bashyam Circle, within the limits of the Rajajinagar police station, in the city's Srirampura locality.
According to police sources, the murders were the result of a prolonged domestic dispute. The couple had been married for about two decades, and preliminary findings suggest they frequently argued over Sunita's visits to her parental home. Attempts by family members to reconcile the couple had failed to resolve their differences.
Police sources said Indushekar allegedly resented the support Sunita received from her mother and brothers whenever he complained about her, and eventually decided to target her entire family.
The sequence of events described by police paints a grim picture of a crime carried out in stages. Investigators said Indushekar first allegedly killed his wife Sunita by striking her on the head with a grinding stone. He then wrapped her body in cloth and dumped it near Nandi Hills in Chikkaballapur district, on the outskirts of Bengaluru. To avoid suspicion, he switched off her mobile phone and told neighbours that she had gone on a trip.
The following day, police said, the accused invited his brothers-in-law, Shivakumar and Shankar, to his house on the pretext of hosting a party. Once they arrived, he allegedly killed them with the same grinding stone. He subsequently allegedly murdered their wives, Divya and Nalini, his mother-in-law Roopavathi, and the seven-year-old boy, Puneeth.
Police sources said the accused used a grinding stone, known locally as a sil-batta or oralu kallu, as the murder weapon in each of the killings.
The bodies were then allegedly disposed of at different locations. Police said the body of the seven-year-old boy was found near Nandi Hills in Chikkaballapur district. The remaining bodies are suspected to have been dumped at other locations in Bengaluru and neighbouring areas, including Charmadi Ghat in coastal Karnataka, according to reports.
A search is under way for the remaining six bodies, and police have formed three special teams, led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (West), to carry out the investigation and recovery efforts.
The case came to light late on Thursday night, after a missing-person complaint was registered at the Srirampura police station. Relatives of the family had approached the police when several members of the household could not be traced. During questioning in connection with the complaint, police said, the accused allegedly confessed to killing seven people.
The Rajajinagar police have arrested him and are questioning him about the exact sequence of events and the places where the bodies were dumped. The Srirampura and Rajajinagar police are conducting parallel investigations into the case.
Police are also not ruling out the possibility that another family member was involved in the murders, and investigators are examining the accused's statements and the clues recovered during a search of his residence. Officers said statements and clues found at the house had strengthened their suspicions before the accused allegedly confessed.
The investigation is continuing, and further details about the sequence of events and the efforts to recover the remaining bodies are awaited.
The scale of the crime has stunned the neighbourhood and the wider city. Residents of the quiet residential locality around 59th Cross, near Bashyam Circle, described their disbelief that such violence could have unfolded inside a house on their street over two days without anyone realising what was happening. The case has also drawn the attention of the state government.
Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge on Friday described the killing of seven members of a family as a deeply disturbing crime, according to reports, as the police investigation continued.
The murders are among the worst incidents of domestic violence to have been reported in Bengaluru in recent memory, and they have renewed attention on how prolonged family disputes can escalate when reconciliation efforts fail. Police sources said the couple's arguments had continued for years, and that the accused had grown increasingly resentful of the role played by his wife's family in their marital disputes.
Investigators believe this resentment was the motive behind the killings, though the final determination will rest on the outcome of the investigation and the evidence presented in court.
As the search for the remaining bodies continues, the police face a difficult task. The bodies are believed to have been dumped at several locations spread across Bengaluru's outskirts and neighbouring districts, and recovering them will require sustained effort by the special teams.
The recovery of all seven bodies is important not only for the families of the victims, but also for the investigation itself, since forensic examination of the remains will help establish the cause and timing of death and corroborate the accused's statements.
The case will now follow the criminal justice process. With the accused in custody, police are expected to seek his remand for further questioning and to complete the recovery of the bodies and the collection of evidence from the house where the killings allegedly took place. A case of murder has been registered, and the investigation will determine the precise charges to be brought before the court.
The outcome of the investigation, including whether anyone else was involved, will shape the next stage of the proceedings.
For the families of the victims, the coming days will be marked by grief and by the wait for the recovery of their loved ones. Six of the seven bodies are yet to be found, and relatives are waiting for news from the search teams. The police have said the search is continuing, and that further details will be shared as the investigation progresses.
The incident has left Bengaluru grappling with questions about how a domestic dispute that had simmered for years could end in the loss of seven lives, including that of a seven-year-old child.
(Reporting based on The Times of India, The New Indian Express, Deccan Herald, The Hindu and NDTV.)