The Cottonpet police have arrested two persons, including a transgender, in connection with the murder of a hotelier couple in Cottonpet recently.
Investigations have revealed that the accused had planned to only commit theft, but ended up killing the couple. The accused have been identified as P K Thammaiah alias Kirana, 24, a native of Virajpet in Kodagu district, and Ramesh alias Ravi, 26, of Mangalore.
It is said that Kirana is a transgender, while Ramesh is a homosexual. They lived like a couple, police said. However, one more accused, Karthik, who was a helper at the hotel, is yet to be arrested. Police said his real name is Syed Ali, but had identified himself as Karthik.
The accused murdered Pawan Kumar Maheshwari Sharma, 40, and his wife Babita Devi, 35, who were running Mahalakshmi restaurant in Cottonpet in the wee hours of August 1. They had also tried to kill the couple’s five-year-old foster daughter Priya.
The police said the arrested duo used to have breakfast at the hotel every day and had learnt that the couple earned huge profits. They even knew where money was kept in the hotel. Police said the couple used to hire workers for only 15-20 days, and they would change very often.
As they had noticed this, they hatched a plot to commit theft and discussed the plan with Syed Ali alias Karthik, whom they met at a railway station. Ali was allegedly a small time thief.
“Accordingly, a week before the murder, Ali approached the couple and introduced himself as Karthik from Bihar. He requested for a job in the hotel. Without verifying his antecedents, the couple hired him. Ali used to sleep inside the hotel where the couple also slept. In the wee hours of August 1, Kirana and Ramesh were waiting outside the hotel. Ali opened the shutter partially and Kirana sneaked in, while Ramesh stayed back outside to ensure nobody would enter the hotel,” the police explained.
“Kirana and Ali took away Rs 48,300 from the hotel. Ali allegedly tried to molest Babita Devi, who woke up and screamed. Her husband and daughter also woke up. Fearing consequences, they killed the couple with an iron rod and assaulted Priya before fleeing,” they said.
The police got the phone number of Kirana at the scene of crime, collected information and arrested the duo.
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