The city police have cracked the sensational murder case of Umesh Krishna, a BPO employee, with the arrest of his wife Honey Mary and a man from Jharkhand.
The city police have cracked the sensational murder case of Umesh Krishna, a BPO employee, with the arrest of his wife Honey Mary and a man from Jharkhand.
Announcing this at a press conference here on Tuesday, police commissioner Shankar M Bidari said a hunt is underway for four more suspects. Police said two men from Jharkhand, Bipin Kumar Singh and Baskal, arrived in the city during the last week of February, and murdered a sleeping Umesh on March 2 with the help of Honey. Police said a Jharkhand-based journalist had given Rs35,000 to the two for committing the crime. Bipin was arrested from Chennai on Saturday. Baskal is absconding.
Honey, and her paramour for three years, Muthukumar, had planned to escape to the USA.
Love affair
On interrogating Honey Mary, police learnt that she had met and fallen in love with a mechanical engineering student, Muthukumar, in 2006. The affair started while she was doing a computer course in Coimbatore.
Later, Muthukumar left for Surat after getting a job there. Though the lovers were in constant touch with each other, Honey’s parents fixed her marriage with Umesh Krishnan, an Infosys BPO employee. Though Honey married Umesh in October 2008, she kept in touch with Muthukumar over the phone whenever her husband was away.
Murder plan
Muthukumar, meanwhile, kept asking Honey leave her husband and join him in Surat. Honey, however, was not willing to do so. Instead, they hatched a plan to eliminate Umesh, who was merrily celebrating his new marital status.
The engineer, through his friend Sanjal Kumar from Jharkhand, contacted Chandan Kumar, reportedly a journalist in that state. Chandan sent Bipin and Baskal to Bangalore to ‘free’ Honey. Bipin was a BAMS dropout, while Baskal was unemployed. Both the men reached the city in the last week of February.
Honey trap
Around 5 am on March 2, both the men arrived at Umesh’s Ramaswamy Palya residence in Banaswadi. Honey opened the door for them, and they gagged a sleeping Umesh with adhesive tape and left with two mobile phones, ornaments and cash, which Honey had given them.
Honey, who was also “gagged,” dragged herself to a neighbour’s house and banged her head against the door to wake them up. The neighbours freed her and called the police. An autopsy report later said Umesh died of asphyxiation.
The probe
Three police teams were assigned to investigate the case. During interrogation Honey gave contradictory statements which made the police suspicious. On probing deeper into the case, they stumbled upon the love affair. Police said Honey was sent to judicial custody. Two mobile phones and some jewellery were recovered from Bipin. Though Bidari said that a journalist was involved in the murder, the bureau chief of the newspaper in Chennai denied having a representative in Jharkhand.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}