Cab driver held for murder of model-cum-event manager on the way to Airport

News Network
August 24, 2019

Bengaluru, Aug 24: The police have cracked the murder of a model-cum-event manager who was killed near Kempegowda International Airport on July 31, and arrested a taxi driver for the crime.

The accused, H.M. Nagesh, is associated with popular taxi aggregator Ola. He was taking 32-year-old Pooja Singh De, who hails from Kolkata, to KIA that morning, but had not logged on to the mobile app and was working in a private capacity.

Pooja had come to the city on July 30 for an event and was returning to Kolkata when the gruesome incident happened.

The murder came to light when local villagers, who had gone out for a walk in the morning, informed police about the body of a woman lying close to the compound of the KIA.

She was found wearing a Titan watch, ‘Jealous 21’ jeans and a pair of branded sandals, which were the only clues available for police to solve the case. The victim had sustained injuries to her head and had been stabbed multiple times.

As police were unable to find any handbag, which would have contained proof of identification, they went with what they had: the watch and other branded items. But good detective work eventually helped them establish the identity of the victim and later led them to her killer.

Police learnt that Pooja had booked an Ola cab online to reach the KIA on July 31 after her assignment. She boarded the cab from Hosur Road at 4.15 am on July 31. The cabbie who drove her that day was H M Nagesh (22), a resident of Hegganahalli Cross in the city.

According to police, Nagesh deviated from the road near Chikkajala on the Hebbal highway and halted at an isolated spot and demanded money. When Pooja refused, he attacked her with a jack rod following which she lost consciousness. Nagesh rummaged through her baggage but was only able to find Rs 500 from her pocket and two mobile phones.

Deciding to get rid of her, Nagesh drove to a place behind the KIA near Kaada Yarappanahalli village, Jala Hobli, 100 metres away from a road where passing vehicles wouldn’t have easy visibility.

On reaching the spot, Pooja regained consciousness and a struggle began between the two. Nagesh again attacked her but a wounded Pooja opened the door to flee. She had taken a few steps in the darkness when Nagesh stabbed her multiple times using a knife and bludgeoned her with a stone.

A passerby stumbled on her body around 6.30 am and informed police, who found her lying in a pool of blood with multiple stab injuries to her chest, abdomen, throat and cuts on palm and hands along with blunt injuries to her head.

Following the incident, Bagalur police formed special teams to probe the incident using the clues that were available to them.

First, they zeroed in on the unique identity number of the Titan wristwatch to identify her. Next, observing her facial features, police felt that she could either be from West Bengal or North India.

Special teams were sent to Delhi and Kolkata, where police, on inquiring about missing cases, stumbled on a similar match at New Town Police Station. It was then that police learnt that she was married.

Further investigation revealed that Pooja had come to the city for event management related work. As she had booked an Ola cab through her e-mail ID and mobile phone, police suspected the role of the cab driver in her murder.

Nagesh was picked up and upon intense grilling confessed to the crime. Nagesh said that he killed her for money. Police recovered victim’s belongings, including an iPhone, from him. He was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 11,2020

Chitradurga, Apr 11: Akhila Bharata Hindu Mahasabha district president M Kumaraswamy has been arrested by Police on charges of posting provocative posts on Facebook.

Police said on Saturday that Syed Sadath who is the Popular Front of India District Secretary, in Chitradurga filed a complaint stating that Mr Kumaraswamy had posted ''Godhra riots will be repeated by Karsevaks'' on his Facebook page on April 7.

Mr Sadath said that Kumaraswamy was spreading communal hatred and targeting one community, at a time when the world was struggling to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
coastaldigest.com news network
May 6,2020

Mangaluru, May 6: Amidst delay in repatriation of Kannadigas stuck in Gulf countries including UAE and Saudi Arabia, on behalf of the office bearers, the executive committee and members of the Bearys Chamber of Commerce & Industry, its president Mr S M Rasheed Haji and executive committee member U T Ifthikar Ali today (May 6) called on authorities concerned in Dakshina Kannada to persuade them to follow up with the State and Central level authorities.  

The duo met Nalin Kumar Kateel, Dakshina Kannada MP, who immediately contacted Pralhad Joshi, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, over phone and urged him to take up the issue with the external affairs ministry. Mr Joshi told Mr Kateel that efforts are still underway to bring back Kannadigas stranded in Gulf countries. However flights schedules are yet to be finalised.

The duo then met Kota Srinivas Poojary, district in-charge minister, who said that the government is prepared to handle the repatriation flights and passengers. 

The duo also met IAS officer Rahul Shinde, who is in-charge of affairs related to international passengers coming to Dakshina Kannada amid covid-19 crisis. Meanwhile, Zakariya Jokatte, president of Jubail unit of BCCI, spoke to Mr Shindhe over phone.

The official explained that the govt has made elaborate arrangements to conduct medical test of passengers on arrival at the Mangaluru International Airport. 

The passengers will be categorised into A, B and C groups depending on their symptoms and co-morbid conditions. The category A passengers (symptomatic passengers) will be sent to isolation hospitals which may be Covid care centres. Category B passengers (asymptomatic but suffering from co-morbid conditions) will be quarantined at hotels, hostels, guest houses etc. Category C passengers (asymptomatic and healthy) will be home quarantined.

The minister and official also sought BCCI’s cooperation in handling the situation. 

Quarantine accommodation facility 

Yenepoya group has already offered two of their hotels as quarantine accommodation and promised to offer one more.  Entrepreneur U Kanachur Monu and many others too have offered their hotels as quarantine accommodation in Mangaluru. 

District administration has asked Treebo, a hotel aggregator to list such willing facilities on their website.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
coastaldigest.com news network
June 15,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 15: A total of over 4,000 COVID patients have been discharged in Karnataka so far, as the state on Monday reported 213 new cases of coronavirus and two related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 7,213 and the death toll to 88.

On Monday alone 180 patients were discharged in the state after recovery. As of June 15 evening, cumulatively 7,213 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 88 deaths and 4,135 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin.

Out of the 2,987 active cases, 2,931 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 56 are in Intensive Care Units. Among the two deaths were a 65-year-old man from Dharwad, who was the contact of another patient already tested positive.

He was admitted on June 14 at a designated hospital and died the same day. The other was a 75-year-old woman from Bengaluru, diagnosed with ILI (Influenza Like Illness) A known case of Diabetes mellitus and Hypertension , she was admitted on June 13 at a designated hospital and died on June 15.

Out of 213 new cases 103 are returnees from other states, a majority of them from neighbouring Maharashtra, while 23 are those who returned from other countries.

Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Kalaburagi accounted for 48, followed by Bengaluru urban 35, Dharwad 34, Dakshina Kannada 23, Raichur 18, Yadgir 13, Bidar 11, Ballari 10, Koppal 4, three each from Vijayapura, Bagalkote and Shivamogga, two each from Udupi, Haveri and Ramanagara, and one each from Hassan and Davangere.

Udupi district tops the list of positive cases with a total of 1,028 infections, followed by Kalaburagi 944 and Yadgir 822.

Among discharges also Udupi is on top with total of 736 discharges, followed by Kalaburagi 459 and Bengaluru urban 329. A total of 4,49,331 samples have been tested so far, out of which 5,362 were tested on Monday alone.

So far 4,32,346 samples have been reported as negative, out of which 4,738 reported negative today, the bulletin said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.