Karnataka government officer murder case: Sacked driver strangled, slit her throat

A day after Prathima, a deputy director of the Mines and Geology Department, was found dead at her residence in Doddakallasandra in the state capital, the police on Monday said her former car driver has been arrested.

Senior geologist, who worked as the deputy director in Bengaluru Rural district, Prathima, 45, was found murdered at her residence on Sunday. She was strangled to death and her throat was slit.

Jurisdictional Subramanyapura police, who launched a probe quickly, made three arrests based on the suspicion and one of them, former driver Kiran turned out to be the alleged killer, police said. The police were preparing to bring him to court and take him into custody. The accused worked on a contract basis and was sacked from the job last week.

He was alleged to have been leaking critical information and movements of the officials. The deceased Prathima had questioned and slammed him. However, Kiran did not mend ways and continued to leak information, hence he was sacked, police stated.

The accused nursed a grudge against Prathima and decided to kill her. He knew that Prathima lived alone at her flat. On Saturday night, he managed to sneak inside her flat and strangled her to death. He also slit her throat.

Prathima’s brother Pratheesh had called her on Saturday night, but the call was not answered. In the morning when the call again was not answered, he came to the flat. When she did not answer the bell, Pratheesh tried to peep through the window and noticed her body.

The police after gathering the preliminary information found that Kiran had disappeared and his phone was switched off. The police managed to gather information and nab him while he was moving towards Chamarajanagar district.

Prathima lived in Gokul apartment at Doddakallasandra. She earlier worked in Ramanagar district. Further investigation is on.