A 34-year-old software engineer, identified as Sharmila Kushalappa, was discovered dead in the aftermath of the fire incident in her apartment in Subramanya Layout on the night of 3rd January. Initially, this late-night fire accident in an apartment in East Bengaluru, Karnataka, has been confirmed to be murder.
In a fire incident on 3rd January in her apartment, she had been found dead, and the police initially thought she had suffocated because of the smoke and fire triggered by a short circuit. But a probe revealed she had been murdered.
According to the media reports, the accused youth is 18-year-old Krishnayya, who was a PUC student and came from Kerala, and he resided in the apartment directly opposite that of Sharmila. The guy had a one-sided love for Sharmila. The youth broke into Sharmila’s apartment by opening the sliding balcony window at midnight. Once inside, he misbehaved by hugging her from behind. Upon fighting back and trying to escape, he struck her in the neck, knocking her unconscious. He then strangled her to death.
To conceal the crime and pretend it was an accident, Krishnayya lit fire to the bedroom of the apartment, and it spread to the rest of the house. This fire tricked investigators at first into believing it was only a death by suffocation. During the investigation, it was found that Sharmila and the culprit had some chit-chat sessions with each other, to some extent. His obsession turned out to be out of control, and he thus committed such a heinous crime.
The police have arrested the accused and placed him in police custody for three days. The police are yet to connect all the dots in the case and gather more evidence.
