Bengaluru authorities have apprehended a 25-year-old electrician, Prashanth Kumar, on suspicion of murdering his 32-year-old wife, Reshma, and attempting to disguise her death as an accidental electrocution.
The intricate cover-up began to unravel when Reshma’s minor daughter provided a crucial statement to the police. Her account, coupled with subsequent post-mortem findings, raised serious doubts about the husband’s initial story.
According to police reports, on October 15, Reshma’s daughter, from a previous marriage, discovered her mother unconscious in their bathroom. Rushed to a hospital by neighbors, Reshma was sadly declared deceased by medical professionals.
Initially, Prashanth claimed that Reshma had been using an electric heating rod in her bath and tragically died from a shock. However, his step-daughter’s revelation painted a different picture. She confided in her mother’s sibling, who later became the complainant, that her stepfather had frequently argued with Reshma, accusing her of being involved with another man.
The daughter’s poignant statement detailed her return from school around 5 p.m. that day, only to find their home’s front gate and door ajar. The bathroom door, where her mother lay lifeless, was suspiciously latched from the outside. This key detail contradicted Prashanth’s narrative.
Prompted by these inconsistencies and growing suspicions, the family filed a formal complaint, leading to the registration of a murder case.
Just one day later, on October 16, Prashanth was taken into custody near Hosur Main Road. During interrogation, he confessed to the heinous crime, admitting he strangled Reshma in a fit of rage due to his suspicions about her fidelity. To mask his actions, he then dragged her body into the bathroom and turned on the water heater to simulate an electrical accident.
It was further revealed that Reshma and Prashanth had met on Instagram approximately nine months prior to their marriage.