BENGALURU: The mystery shrouding the death of realtor, who was found dead with stab injuries in the neck on the outskirts of the city on Saturday evening, has been unravelled: His wife and mother-in-law were allegedly driven to the act after enduring endless harassment from him.
The accused, 19-year-old Yashasvini Singh and 37-year-old Hema Bai, have been arrested by Soladevanahalli police. The incident occurred at BGS Layout near Bilijaji area in north Bengaluru and the deceased is 37-year-old Loknath Singh, a resident of Kannur Gate in Magadi taluk of Ramanagara district. Preliminary investigation revealed that Loknath was sedated before murder.
Loknath, who had cheating cases registered against him, had married Yashasvini four months ago despite her parents' opposition. He had reportedly threatened and blackmailed her family since Sept 2023, coercing the latter to accept his marriage proposal. After marriage, he started harassing her and tortured her whenever she refused to give in to his physical demands. Already on the edge, Yashasvini could not tolerate his wayward behaviour when he demanded that she convince her mother to have a physical relationship with him. Subsequently, she left him and returned to her parent's house. However, Loknath went back to Yashasvini's house and threatened her family, including father Krishna Singh, of dire consequences if she did not return to stay with him.
"That is when the daughter-mother duo decided to put an end to the torture. They thought that's the only way to get rid of Loknath. Knowing his vices, they worked on a murder plan and waited for the right opportunity," police said.
On Saturday morning, Loknath called Yashasvini to inform that he's coming to meet her. Loknath left home in his SUV around 10am after telling his sister that he was heading towards the city. The duo prepared food and mixed it with sleeping pills. Hoping to party with Yashasvini, Loknath had packed a few beer bottles. After picking Yashasvini and the food brought by her, Loknath drove to an isolated space in BGS Layout.
They drank beer inside the vehicle. While he got high on alcohol, Yashasvini made him consume the sedative-laced food and, at the same time, shared her location with her mother. When Loknath started feeling drowsy, Hema came with a knife and stabbed him twice in the neck. A shaken Loknath tried to flee; he ran for 150 metres and tried to hide in a parked autorickshaw. Passersby, who reached the spot on hearing his screams, found him dead and alerted police.
Deputy commissioner of police (North) Saidulu Adavath said: "Yashasvini was not willing to continue the marital relationship. She also got to know that he had extra-marital affairs. So they planned and killed him."