Bengaluru: In a murder case that initially appeared to be an accidental death, Electronics City police arrested two persons — the deceased man’s wife and her lover — for allegedly conspiring to murder Upendra N, 41, and staging his death as a heart attack.The arrested are Anitha, 36, and her lover, Talasani Madhusudhan Reddy, 46, a cab driver.Upendra and Anitha, who resided at Doddathoguru on Bettadasanapura Main Road, were running a small call centre related to loans in private banks. All three were natives of Sathya Sai district in Andhra Pradesh.Police were alerted about Upendra’s death by his brother, Rajendra, on Oct 12. When they questioned Anitha, she said Upendra slipped and fell while going to the bathroom and died due to cardiac arrest. However, police noticed bruises on his face and neck and suspected Anitha’s involvement.Based on a complaint filed by Rajendra, police initially registered an unnatural death report (UDR) case. Inspector Azheruddin and his team collected call detail records of Upendra and Anitha and monitored her movements. The postmortem report said it was “death was due to asphyxia as a result of throttling, mode of compression to be investigated”.Cops verified CCTV footage from cameras installed around Upendra’s house and gathered crucial information: Anitha would frequently call Reddy and his movements were captured by cameras near the house.On Nov 5, Reddy was summoned for questioning and he confessed to having a relationship with Anitha. According to him, Upendra used to harass Anitha and warn her repeatedly over the affair. Consequently, Reddy and Anitha decided to murder Upendra.On the night of Oct 11, Upendra reportedly assaulted Anitha, following which she called Reddy. He reached Upendra’s house around midnight. He found the two children asleep in the hall and Upendra in the bedroom. Reddy told police he sat on top of Upendra and gripped his neck with both hands. Simultaneously, Anitha covered her husband’s face and nose. After struggling for a while, Upendra stopped breathing.Anitha then asked Reddy to leave, saying she would inform Rajendra that Upendra had slipped and fallen while going to the bathroom, resulting in cardiac arrest.Police detained Anitha from her residence on Nov 6. During questioning, she also confessed to her involvement in the murder.
