Following plea by mother of college girl, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah asks CID to take over probe of alleged murder by minor

The CM issued the directive after the victim’s single mother K R Soumya, a social worker and Dalit rights activist, met Siddaramaiah along with a delegation of social workers on Monday.

In a letter to the CM, Soumya requested “that the CID be entrusted with a thorough investigation into the local police’s non-cooperation, wilful negligence, attempt to destroy evidence, collusion with thugs, threats to me – the victim’s mother”.

The minor who was apprehended by the Bengaluru south police in connection with the murder of the 20-year-old BBA student was released 10 days after his arrest.

The college student was found dead at her house on May 15. Initially, the case was attempted to be passed off as one of suicide but investigations following the insistence of the girl’s mother revealed that she had been murdered.

The minor, who is the son of a local bar owner and a friend of the victim’s younger brother, allegedly committed the murder in a dispute over stealing Rs 2,000 from the victim.

The victim’s mother has accused the Subramanyapura police of siding with the accused. “For the first three or four days, they tried to portray it as suicide, provided all kinds of help and assistance to the murderer and tried to cover up the fact of the murder,” she stated.

“The killer’s father… was in close contact with the police and destroyed the evidence, but the police did not take any action. Without providing any information to the lawyer at the Juvenile Justice Board the accused was granted bail after ten days and walked away,” states the letter to the CM.

Case background

The fourth-semester Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) student was found dead in her residence in Brindavan Layout in Padmanabhanagar.

On May 15, Prabhudha’s mother Soumya K R, after returning from her office, found her daughter’s body in the bathroom and shifted her to a nearby hospital where she was declared brought dead.

The Bengaluru South Division police detained the minor a week after the incident after CCTV footage in the locality revealed that he had visited the home of the victim.

The minor had damaged the spectacles of a friend and the friend was demanding that the spectacles be repaired. The minor who knew the victim stole Rs 2,000 from her purse to pay his friend, the police said.

When Prabhudha came to know about the theft, she confronted the minor and there was a fight where the victim fell unconscious after being pushed by the suspect, the police said. Thinking the victim was dead the minor and a friend slashed her wrist and throat in an attempt to pass off the incident as a case of suicide, the police claimed.

Initially, the case was suspected to be one of suicide since three death notes were found saying “Sorry Amma” (Sorry Mother).

However, Prabhudha’s mother Soumya suspected that her daughter was murdered by an unknown person who may have entered the house through a rear door. The police probe found that the notes found in the house were not written in the victim’s handwriting.

“When I returned home after work, I saw my daughter’s body in the bathroom. Every day, after returning from college, my daughter used to text me saying that she was home but on that specific day, she did not send any text,” Soumya said.