Three held for murder in Ballari

AMarried couple up and the adult female’s comrade in Ballari feature been arrested in link with the killing of a 26 year old man whose partially burnt body was found near a canal in Ballari district, police said, stating that the three conspired to murder him after months of alleged harassment directed at the woman.The accused, identified by police as Dodda Basavanagouda, 32, his wife Shwetha D, 26, and her brother M Vijay, 23, have been remanded to judicial custody. Investigators said the three allegedly lured the man to a secluded location, strangled him with a rope and later set his body on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence.The body was recovered on the morning of June 8 near the Shivapura Tambrahalli LLC canal within the jurisdiction of Moka police station, a day after the man was reported missing.Ballari Superintendent of Police Suman D Pennekar said the investigation found that the deceased had allegedly subjected the married woman to persistent harassment for nearly a year by sending objectionable videos and pressuring her to engage in sexual relations.“The deceased had been sending videos to a married woman and allegedly forcing her to cooperate with him for sex. Unable to tolerate the continued harassment, the woman informed her husband and brother. As the harassment persisted, the three accused allegedly hatched a conspiracy to eliminate him,” Pennekar said.According to the police, the woman contacted the victim on June 7 and asked him to meet her near the canal, where the other two accused were already waiting. “The accused used the woman to lure the victim to a secluded location near the canal. Once he arrived, they strangled him with a rope and murdered him. They had brought a rope and petrol in a car beforehand,” Pennekar said.Police said the accused then transported the body about 10 kilometres from the murder site before pouring petrol over it and setting it ablaze. “After the murder, the accused poured petrol on the body and tried to burn it to erase evidence. Following the crime, all three fled to Bengaluru. Our teams tracked them down and arrested them based on technical evidence and sustained investigation,” Pennekar said.She added that the accused were produced before a Judicial Magistrate First Class court on Saturday night and that investigators would seek their custody for further questioning.The investigation initially examined whether the killing was connected to a romantic relationship or a personal dispute. As officers gathered forensic and technical evidence, they said they reconstructed a different sequence of events centred on the alleged harassment.Police said a forensic examination of the victim’s mobile phone was central to the investigation. Officers allegedly recovered evidence indicating that he had sent inappropriate messages and content to multiple women. Investigators also analysed call records, mobile phone location data and communication patterns, which they said helped identify the suspects and establish the sequence of events.During interrogation, the three accused allegedly admitted to their involvement in the killing, according to the police.