Ten days after police in Karnataka started investigating the suspected suicide of 26-year-old IT firm executive Shravani TP and her two-year-old son Sai Manas, they have now concluded it to be a murder case. Police had initially thought that the 26-year-old had killed her son first and took her own life in their Vijayapura residence in Devanahalli (near Bengaluru airport). Even Shivani’s parents and husband did not suspect it to be a case of murder, police said as a bottle of poison was found beside the body.
On Thursday, police said they have arrested Hemanth Kumar M, who worked for an internet service provider, for allegedly strangling the mother and son. Hemanth who was in a relationship with Shivani allegedly committed the crime after she refused to leave her husband. Police have now found that on the day of murder, Shivani was on leave and her husband Rajesh S was working as usual in a school in Chikkaballapur.
The police began probing other angles as a towel was found beside the bodies. Traces of poison were also found in Shivani’s hands and face and there was no suicide note either. The suspicion of Doddaballapura Deputy Superintendent R Mohan Kumar and Vijayapura Circle Inspector DR Prakash who were leading the probe was confirmed by the autopsy report.
“But the crime scene suggested foul play, as there were strangulation marks on Shravani’s neck, and the towel used to strangle her was also found around her neck,” police officials told media.
Based on phone call records, police found Hemanth was in contact with Shivani regularly and he was called for questioning when he confessed to the crime. According to police, Hemanth went to Shivani’s residence with a bottle of poison and asked her to kill herself with him. He killed her when she refused to do so by strangling her with the towel. He killed Manas too, fearing he could be a witness to the crime.
