Wife murdered businessman for refusing to give Rs 8 crore, drove 800 kilometers to dispose of dead body

Bengaluru:

An unidentified, charred body found in a coffee plantation in Karnataka's Kodagu district three weeks ago has led police to a gruesome murder conspiracy. Ramesh, a 54-year-old businessman, had gone missing a few weeks ago. Police have now learned that his wife Niharika, her lover Nikhil and another accused Ankur hatched a gruesome murder conspiracy for the businessman's money and went across the state borders to dispose of the body. All three have been arrested.

a dead body has been found

On October 8, police found a burnt body in a coffee plantation near Santikoppa in Kodagu. When efforts to identify the body failed, police started scanning CCTV footage to check vehicles passing through the area. A red Mercedes Benz caught his attention. The car was found to be registered in the name of Ramesh, whose wife had recently filed a missing complaint. The police then contacted their counterparts in Telangana, where the car was registered.

Test

As the investigation progressed, the police suspected the role of Ramesh's wife Niharika P (29). When he was taken into custody, he confessed to his involvement in Ramesh's murder and named his accomplices, Nikhil, a veterinarian, and Ankur. The police came to know that Niharika had a troubled childhood. Her father died when she was 16 and her mother remarried. He excelled in studies, completed his engineering and started working. She married early, became a mother and later separated. At some point, when she was in Haryana, she got involved in a financial fraud and went to jail. He met Ankur in jail.

Motive and murder

After coming out of jail, Niharika married Ramesh. This was also his second marriage. The businessman provided Niharika with a luxurious lifestyle and she got used to it. Once he asked him for Rs 8 crore. Ramesh refuses the huge demand, and this makes Niharika angry. Police have found that she was in a relationship with Nikhil and along with him and Ankur, she had conspired to murder Ramesh to gain access to his property. On October 1, the businessman was strangled to death in Uppal, Hyderabad. The accused returned to his place, took the cash and went to Bengaluru. After a fuel stop, they headed towards Kodagu, more than 800 km from Uppal. There they dumped the body in a coffee estate. The body was covered with a blanket and set on fire. The trio then returned to Hyderabad and Niharika lodged a missing report for Ramesh.

what did the police say

Kodagu police chief Ramarajan said it was a challenging case as “everything was completely destroyed”. “Prima facie, we determined that the body was burnt 3-4 days before the complaint was lodged. Our crime team started investigating suspicious activities in the area. They came to know that on Saturday between 12 midnight A vehicle was moving suspiciously. And at 2 am we checked the CCTV footage, but as it was night, the pictures were not clear, so we checked the footage of 500 CCTV cameras up to Tumkur, with all the technical evidence. , We were able to trace a vehicle from Telangana to a businessman named Ramesh.”

“Based on our investigation, we have arrested several suspects, identified as Niharika, 29, and Nikhil, a 28-year-old veterinarian. Niharika is the prime suspect; she allegedly murdered the car's owner, Ramesh. Niharika, along with Nikhil and another associate Ankur, murdered him and disposed of the body.”