Man confesses to crime three years after he murdered his elder brother and another man, all for a plot of land
Man confesses to crime three years after he murdered his elder brother and another man, all for a plot of land
THE Byappanahalli police have arrested a 42-year-old lorry driver who poisoned his brother to grab his land worth Rs 45 lakh.
Inspector K V Srinivas, who cracked the case based on a tip-off, said that the culprit Shivaprasad confessed to killing his 62-year-old brother Raju and his friend Dasan, by poisoning their drinks.
Though the crime happened in 2006, the Vyalikalval police who investigated the case in 2006 had failed to bring it to light.
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Two-time killer: Shivaprasad (extreme left) with his five associates who were arrested by the Byappanahalli police |
The brothers owned adjacent plots of land in Vasanthnagar, part of ancestral property they inherited along with their six sisters. Shivaprasad constructed a house on his land, while Raju, who lived alone despite marrying thrice, left his site vacant.
The enmity between the brothers started when Raju realised that his brother had encroached two feet of his land to build the house, and threatened to move to court to get the building demolished.
Enraged by this, Shivaprasad not only decided to save his house but also to grab all of his brother's property by eliminating him. He discussed the issue with his friend Chandra and the two men then hatched a plan to kill Raju.
The conspiracy
In February 2006, Shivaprasad invited Raju for a drink and offered him brandy laced with cyanide that he had purchased from a local goldsmith. Raju refused the drink saying he drank only beer and passed it to his friend Dasan, a local carpenter who had accompanied Raju to his brother's booze party.
Soon after having the drink, Dasan collapsed. When he was taken to the hospital, the doctor declared him brought dead. Concluding that Dasan died due to excessive consumption of alcohol, hospital authorities did not perform a post-mortem and handed the body over to his relatives, who performed his last rites.
u00a0Shivaprasad was initially scared that his role in Dasan's death would be exposed, but since no doubts were raised, he waited for another three months and invited his brother again for a booze party.
This time the plan worked, and Raju died soon after consuming beer mixed with cyanide.
According to the police, Raju was taken to the hospital and the doctors conducted post mortem on him after his family members voiced suspicion. But nothing came out of it and soon Raju's last rites too were performed.
Few months later, Shivaprasad managed to get hold of Raju's property documents and forged his signature to sell the site to Shivaprasad's friend Chandra without the knowledge of other family members.
The undoingThe incident came to light when Raju's sister noticed that Chandra was planning to construct a building in Raju's vacant site and, getting suspicious, informed the police about it.
The Byappanahalli police took up investigations and detained Shivaprasad, who after prolonged questioning confessed to the twin murders.
The police said that based on thes information given by Shivaprasad, they have arrested five more persons including Mary, an acquaintance of his who reportedly played a part in the crime.
"The accused have been remanded to judicial custody and the case details have been transferred to Vyalikaval since the crime happened there," Srinivas said.
