Saudi, UAE, Kuwait to celebrated Eid on Monday

Bengaluru, Feb 6: A 33 -year-old techie who was on the run after allegedly bludgeoning her mother to death and attempting to murder her brother at their house near KR Puram early on Sunday was arrested along with her friend from a hotel in Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, on Wednesday morning.

C Amruta and Sridhar Rao were produced before a court in Port Blair to get a transit warrant, deputy commissioner of police (Whitefield) MN Anuchet said. Police initially thought she had committed the crime as she was unable to repay a loan of Rs 15 lakh and feared being humiliated by the lenders.

"But now we strongly suspect that Amruta and Rao were in a relationship, which was opposed by her mother and brother. We don't see any other reason for her to attack her family members. We can get more details only after questioning the duo," another police officer said, adding, "The most important question is: Did Rao know Amruta was going to kill her mother? Or he got to know about it only later? He'd booked their air tickets to Port Blair on January 31 itself."

Rao and Amruta worked together in a software company in Whitefield till 2017. "Then they joined different firms and were in constant touch," police said.

Preliminary probe revealed the duo flew to Port Blair by catching a flight from Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) at 6.30am on Sunday. CCTV footage had shown Rao - wearing a full-face helmet and carrying a backpack - waiting near Amruta's house on a gearless scooter on Sunday morning. After she arrived, they chatted for a while before riding away. They arrived at KIA on the same bike, police said.

"We checked the passengers' list at KIA for that day and found Amruta's name. With the help of Port Blair police, we traced the duo to a hotel," an investigating officer said.

On Sunday morning, Amruta hit her 54-year-old mother C Nirmala on the head with a digging bar. She later stabbed her younger brother C Harish in the neck. Harish collapsed and thinking that he was dead, she left the house.

In his statement to police, Harish stated, "Around 4.30am, Amruta entered my room and stabbed me. I asked her what was wrong. She said she had a debt of Rs 15 lakh and didn't want the debtors to harass me and our mother."

Bengaluru, Feb 11: A 36-year-old woman who fought back after being stabbed eight times by a helmet-clad intruder succumbed to injuries at a hospital.

Susheela was in shock after she pulled off the attacker’s helmet as it was her own brother-in-law. Before breathing her last, she explained the sequence of events to the police.

She said her brother-in-law attacked her because he was eyeing their ancestral property worth over Rs 10 crore. “Susheela put up a stiff resistance and identified her assailant. But the stab injuries proved to be fatal,” said a police officer. Based on her statement, Ananth Kumar, 42, was arrested on murder charges.

The attack occurred on February 7 at Honaganahatti village in Tavarekere, off Magadi Road. Susheela, whose husband Gangaraju died in a road accident 12 years ago, was living with her 14-year-old daughter and 75-year-old mother, Rudramma.

On Friday, her daughter had gone to school and Rudramma was sitting outside the house when a man walked in wearing a full-faced helmet and attacked Susheela with a knife. She defended herself with a stick used for making ragi balls and by throwing chilli powder at his face. But the attacker stabbed her on the hand, neck and head. He fled when Susheela identified him and raised an alarm. Neighbours rushed her to a hospital.

During questioning, Kumar reportedly confessed to the crime, saying he wanted to get rid of her as she was not agreeing to sell five acres of their ancestral property.

Susheela’s nephew Kiran G said: “The family owned six acres. Kumar sold one acre for Rs 50 lakh a few years ago after convincing Susheela. He, however, paid her only Rs 5 lakh. Lately, he was pestering Susheela to sell the remaining land as buyers were ready to pay Rs 2.5 crore per acre. But she was hesitating as she had been cheated by him earlier.”

Police are now examining the circumstances under which Gangaraju was killed. “We learnt the driver who had been arrested in connection with Gangaraju’s accident is currently working with Kumar,” said an officer.

Bengaluru, Mar 28: Karnataka has reported 10 new positive cases of COVID-19 between 5 pm yesterday and 8 am today, taking the tally to 74 in the state.

"Ten new COVID-19 cases have been reported between 5 pm yesterday and 8 am today, taking the total number to 74 in Karnataka, which includes three deaths and five cured/discharged persons," said the State Health Department on Saturday.

The total number of active COVID-19 cases in the country has climbed to 873, including 78 cured, discharged and migrated cases and 19 deaths, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Saturday.