Bengaluru: A 28-year-old man allegedly murdered a woman by stabbing her multiple times for refusing to marry him over their caste difference in Bengaluru, police said on Wednesday.
According to the police, the incident took place in full public view outside the 25-year-old woman’s officer at Murugeshpalya in East Bengaluru on Tuesday night. The accused was arrested from the crime spot.
Police have identified the deceased as Leela Pavithra Nalamati, who hailed from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, while the accused as Dinakar Banala from Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh.
She had moved to Bengaluru around five years ago and was currently working with a private healthcare management company. She was staying in a paying guest facility in Jeevan Bhima Nagar area, said a senior officer.
“Dinakar and Leela fell in love five years ago. But the woman’s family was opposed to their marriage as Dinakar was from a “lower” caste. She informed Dinakar that her family would not agree to their marriage and that they should end their relationship as there was no future,” said deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Bengaluru East, Bheemashankar S Guled. “This angered Dinakar, who stabbed Leela at least 16 times outside her office.”
She died on the spot, said the officer.
CCTV footage from outside her officer showed the accused waiting outside the woman’s office building. Though it did not show him holding any weapon, said another officer.
“Around 7.30 pm while she was leaving, he tried to engage her in conversation but when she refused to entertain him. He took out a knife and in full view stabbed her multiple times,” said the second officer.
A team from the Jeevan Bhima Nagar police station rushed to the spot after being informed about the murder by a passerby, officers said, adding that Dinakar was arrested from the spot.
A case under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at JB Nagar police station. “The accused was presented before a magistrate and was sent to judicial custody,” said the DCP.
Meanwhile, some videos surfaced on social media that purportedly showed the accused sitting next to the woman’s body outside her office building. In one such inaudible videos, Dinakar could be seen talking to bystanders.
HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.
The accused, who is a healthcare worker, had worked with the woman around three years ago, said police.
