The Bengaluru police on Monday, November 6, arrested the former driver of senior geologist KS Prathima, who was murdered at her residence in the city. The driver, identified as Kiran, was arrested from the Male-Mahadeshwara Hills in Chamarajanagara a day after Prathima was found dead at her residence in southern Bengaluru’s Doddakallasandra on the night of November 4.
Prathima served as Deputy Director in Karnataka’s Department of Mines and Geology, and Kiran was working as her driver. He was recently fired from his job and the police said that he was angry with Prathima over this. Following her death, Kiran went missing, and his mobile phone remained switched off. The police are also on the lookout for two others who they suspect to have helped Kiran with the alleged crime.
Prathima lived alone on the first floor of a two-story standalone house with another family residing on the ground floor. It was Prathima's brother Pratish who discovered her lifeless body after she had failed to respond to his calls. Her body was found with the throat slit.
The police confirmed that on the day of her death, Pratima’s new driver dropped her off after work at her residence by around 8 pm. According to the police, the murder took place at around 8:30 pm, just 30 minutes after she returned home.
The police have also been looking into high-profile cases that Prathima inspected as part of her work. On the morning of November 6, investigators had said that they suspected the motive behind the murder to be of a personal nature. Robbery was ruled out as no signs of theft were evident at the crime scene.
Prathima’s neighbours told TNM that they did not hear any sound in the night. "We rarely crossed paths with her. She would leave for work in the morning and return late at night. There wasn't much interaction," said the neighbour residing opposite Prathima's house. Another neighbour, also a government official, expressed disbelief, stating, "I can't fathom that something of this nature could occur in our neighbourhood. It's truly shocking."