The Bengaluru police arrested a 33-year-old techie Amrutha Chandrashekar on Wednesday for allegedly killing her mother and for attempting to kill her brother. Amrutha and her boyfriend were arrested in Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where they were hiding after they fled Bengaluru on Saturday morning. They were brought to Bengaluru for questioning. Her boyfriend Sridhar Rao was also arrested for abetment.
The KR Puram police received a call from Amrutha’s brother Harish on Saturday morning when he dialled 100 for help. Harish informed the police that his sister has slashed his neck with a knife and also killed his mother.
At around 4 am on Saturday, Harish woke up from his sleep when he heard Amrutha rummaging through his cupboard. When he questioned her as to why she was up so early, Amrutha allegedly informed him that she was packing for a trip to Hyderabad.
Amrutha had decided to visit Hyderabad along with her mother Nirmala and Harish on Sunday morning. “She left the room and Harish went back to sleep. Twenty to 25 minutes later, she came back into the room and slashed his throat with a knife while he was still sleeping. Harish jumped out of the bed. Amrutha informed him that she had already killed their mother and she would kill Harish by hitting him with an iron rod. He was able to defend himself. She immediately left the house along with Sridhar, who was there to pick her up,” the KR Puram police said.
Police say that they gathered the CCTV footage outside the house, which showed Amrutha and Sridhar speeding off in a two-wheeler. The police tracked them down to Kempegowda International Airport. Up on questioning the officials at the KIAL, the police learned that the two suspects had boarded a flight to Port Blair.
“She had taken a loan of Rs 15 lakh from a private money lender. She was unable to repay the money. She was scared that her family would find out and had initially planned to take them to Hyderabad on Sunday as the money lender had threatened to show up at her doorstep on Sunday. She says she is struggling with mental health issues. We are trying to understand what drove her to kill them and she says that the debt she had incurred had made her worrisome. She says she had decided to kill her family members as she could not bear to face them,” the KR Puram police added.