Man arrested for killing wife 15 years ago

Police said that when the needle of suspicion pointed towards Tarun during the probe into the murder, he fled after withdrawing Rs 11,000 from Sajni’s account. Several police teams tried to trace him, but no avail. The teams traced some of his relatives and had been trying to locate him.

DCB officials recently visited Tarun’s mother Annama Chako at her home in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, and spoke to the neighbours. “They told us she has two sons — one lives in the south and the other in Ahmedabad. We then found that she often visits Kerala and Bengaluru. In Kerala, she went to a religious place,” a DCB official said. Police also found that Anamma received calls from a landline number registered with Oracle in Bengaluru and a cellphone number registered in the name of Nisha, Tarun’s current wife.

The police then zeroed in on the Bengaluru address. “We were surprised to see the landline number. We went to the firm and inquired whether it has an employee named Tarun Jinaraj. But they couldn’t find out,” said a source.

Police then found that Nisha is married to one Pravin Batalia. However, in Facebook and Instagram, “Pravin” was not in any picture of Nisha and her children. The police got back in touch with Oracle to find where “Pravin Batalia” was working and reached the office. A police officer said, “We addressed him as ‘Tarun’. He was taken aback. After initial denial, he confessed. He then called up his wife and told her his real identity.”

According to police, after fleeing Ahmedabad, Tarun changed his identity to that of Pravin Batalia, his junior in college. He got fake documents made and landed a job at a call centre. Before shifting to Bengaluru, he lived in Pune where he met Nisha and married her. “He told Nisha that his parents were killed in an accident and he grew up on his own. When his parents visited, he introduced them as aunt and uncle,” said an officer.