How a missing slipper and poison bottle cap helped uncover murder staged as suicide in Bengaluru

The death of a 45-year-old former panchayat member of Makali village in Bengaluru South, initially believed to be a suicide, has turned out to be a murder allegedly orchestrated by his wife and her lover.

The deceased, identified as Lokesh, was found dead off Kanva Road in Ramanagara on June 23, with a poison bottle lying next to him, raising suspicion of suicide. The initial statements from the family members, including Lokesh’s wife, Chandrakala, a member of the Makali Gram Panchayat, led to police filing an unnatural death report, as everyone claimed that Lokesh had taken multiple loans, according to a report by The Hindu.

However, cops' suspicion grew when they found some inconsistencies in the crime scene - while there was a poison bottle next to Lokesh, its lid was missing, and one slipper of Lokesh was untraced.

On the other hand, Lokesh's family approached police with a chilling allegation: Chandrakala was having an affair with someone and Lokesh had recently discovered it, according to a Times of India report.

Acting on the information and their own suspicion, police held off jumping to conclusions until the autopsy report came in.

"Though poison was confirmed as the cause of death, doctors noted something unusual. In cases of suicide, poison typically travels straight to the stomach. But here, a large concentration was found in the chest, raising suspicion of forced ingestion," SP Srinivas Gowda was quoted as saying by TOI.

Police decided to question Chandrakala and checked her call records.

“On the day of Lokesh’s death, Chandrakala had called a person named Yogesh multiple times, which raised suspicion. When we checked Yogesh’s call record, he was in communication with one Santosh, who was earlier arrested in a murder case,” an officer told The Hindu.

According to the police, Santosh’s network dump revealed that he was around the crime scene on the day of the murder. Not just him — three more people, Shivaling, Surya, and Chandan, who were on Santosh’s contact list, were also present at the crime scene.

Police detained Chandrakala and grilled her, reportedly leading to her confession. Subsequently, the police arrested all five men.