Bengaluru: Clueless for more than a month after the murder of a 57-year-old woman, who was bludgeoned to death at her residence in Jayanagar East on April 4, a specific bacteria found at the crime scene helped the police nab the culprit.
Based on a chemical analysis report by the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team, which had found a specific bacteria and fungus on the window which the accused used to open the door to enter the house, the police arrested a 19-year-old ragpicker, Ganesh alias Chappar Ganesh, for killing Mani.
Ganesh
On April 4, Ganesh had entered Mani's house through the backdoor. He locked the bedroom door where Mani's son Srinivas Kishore was sleeping and entered Mani's room. He took off the gold chain that Mani was wearing and while removing the rings, Mani woke up and shouted. Ganesh panicked and hit Mani in the head with a hammer. As she fell unconscious, Ganesh decamped with all her jewellery.
The incident came to light the next morning when Kishore called up house servant and got the room unlocked and found his mother dead in the room.
"We conducted a detailed investigation, but could not find clues initially. But the mention of a specific bacteria and fungus which the FSL team found on the window gave us a breakthrough. We found that this bacteria and fungus are usually found in ragpickers. We zeroed in on ragpickers and street dwellers in Tilak Nagar and surrounding police station limits and interrogated them. Later, based on CCTV footage and other inputs, we detained Ganesh and subjected him to a chemical analysis and found the same type of bacteria and fungus that we had found at the crime spot. During the interrogation he confessed to the crime," the police said.
Ganesh also revealed that he and his friend Chinnaraju alias Kamlesh (30), a resident of KG Nagar, had robbed many houses and handed over the valuables to Shaktivelu (31), a scrap dealer and a resident of KG Nagar, who in turn gave them money, alcohol and solutions that they were addicted to. He had also and assured them that he would bail them out if they were ever caught by the police.
The police have arrested all the three accused and have recovered gold ornaments worth Rs 28 lakh.
