Bengaluru: Police investigating the murder of retired Karnataka Director General of Police (DG&IGP) Om Prakash arrested his wife Pallavi, 64, Monday evening on charges of murder, but are yet to arrive at any conclusion about the motive.
Om Prakash was found dead in a pool of blood Sunday evening after Pallavi called police. Pallavi and her daughter Kriti were detained on Sunday evening after Om Prakash’s son Karthikesh suspected their involvement in the murder.
A senior police officer said Pallavi confessed to acting alone and killing her husband as she claimed she was a victim of domestic violence. She repeatedly said Kriti had no role in the crime and urged police to release her as she was “depressed”. Kriti was allowed to leave after questioning as her role is yet to be established.
Another senior police officer said the couple had disputes over multiple issues. “It is very difficult to interrogate Pallavi or Kriti as they’re not speaking coherently,” he added. Police are looking into possible property feud and other angles.
“I have gone through domestic violence,” Pallavi told the media thrice, while being taken to the magistrate’s house in the evening. She was remanded in judicial custody. Later, Bengaluru City commissioner of police B Dayananda transferred the case to the Central Crime Branch.
Police sources said Om Prakash bore over 10 stab injuries, adding they’ve recovered a knife and a broken bottle from the crime scene. The Fingerprint Bureau collected samples on Sunday night and fingerprints of Pallavi and Kriti on Monday.
The family resides in Bengaluru’s HSR Layout in a four-storey building: Prakash and Pallavi on the ground floor, Karthikesh on the first floor with his wife and child, and Kriti on the third floor. The second floor has been rented out.
Karthikesh, 39, in a complaint to police on Sunday night, said his mother had been issuing death threats to his father for more than a week, prompting Prakash to temporarily move into his sister Saritha Kumari’s house. He said both Pallavi and Kritika are under depression and often fought with Prakash.
Later, Kriti convinced Prakash to return home on Friday. Karthikesh said he was informed about his father’s death by a neighbour around 5pm Sunday. When he reached home around 5.45pm, he found his father dead in a pool of blood.
The post-mortem was conducted at St John’s Hospital on Monday. He was cremated in the evening. Karthikesh said he has complete “faith in the police department. We’ll know who and why they did it based on investigations.”
MSID:: 120490774 413 |