The victim, an event manager, was shot dead in 2007
Police say jealousy was the motive for murder
Accused took a gun from a private security firm MD
Bangalore: Some 21 months after the crime, the Indiranagar police on Thursday announced they had solved the murder of Madhusudhan Aravindakshan, who ran an event management business, and arrested Sanjana Muthanna, his then colleague.
Sanjana, a former employee of a local media group, was the complainant in the case.
Madhusudhan, owner of Bangalore Convention and Trade Fair Company Private Ltd., was found dead with two bullets in his body on July 10, 2007, in his office on 100-Foot Road in Indiranagar. He was a native of Kollam in Kerala.
“A police team raided a house at Hathur village near Gonicoppa in South Kodagu early on Thursday and arrested the accused,” City Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari told presspersons here on Thursday. He said the motive was suspected to be an affair gone sour.
Madhusudhan was working with a specialty media house in the city before setting up his own venture, where Sanjana was hired as manager.
According to the police, Madhusudhan was drawn to another woman, G.B. Manjunath, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Ulsoor Sub-Division) told The Hindu.
Sanjana became friendly with Afroz Ahamed Nehavi (40), managing director of Prime Security in Indiranagar, which had been providing security guards to Madhusudhan’s office.
Afroz, a native of Srinagar in Kashmir, had a licensed .32 revolver which Sanjana borrowed to commit the crime, said another officer familiar with the investigation.
In her police complaint, Sanjana had said that two strangers had come around 6.30 p.m. seeking some files from the victim.
Half an hour later she heard a noise and saw the two leaving hurriedly on a two-wheeler. When she went in, she saw Madhusudhan in a pool of blood.
Email trailMeanwhile, three months after the murder, Maya Ahuja, a resident of Yelahanka New Town, received an email threat in the name of Karnataka Liberation Front, which demanded a huge sum from her or else she would be “shot like Madhusudhan”. The police traced it to Afroz.
“We detained him and during the course of investigation we found a licensed .32 revolver with him. Madhusudhan was shot with a similar gun,” the officer said.
“As he was providing security to the victim’s office, we initially suspected that he was the perpetrator.”
However, under questioning, he told the police that Sanjana had asked for the gun “to threaten somebody”. He gave it to her with six bullets in the chamber. After two days, she returned the revolver without two bullets. She could not account for the missing rounds, Afroz told the police.
When Afroz was arrested, Sanjana fled to her native Kodagu, remaining in hiding till her arrest, Assistant Commissioner of Police Manjunath said.
Sanjana has been remanded in judicial custody.
