A brutal murder was caught on camera in Bengaluru’s Electronic City on Monday, December 27. The woman, who was killed in front of her son and chauffeur, has been identified as 38-year-old Archana Reddy. A video of the incident which has surfaced shows at least two people hacking the woman even as busy city traffic is seen in the background. The accused are then seen fleeing. The incident is reported to have occured when Archana was returning to her home in Bellandur from Jigani. A case has been registered at the Electronic City police station and the police suspect that the woman’s husband may have been behind the crime.
The First Information Report (FIR) stated that Archana had married a man named Naveen Kumar around five years ago. Over the past few months, Naveen and Archana fought over property and money, police said, adding that Naveen also used to physically assault Archana. There was also a complaint filed by Archana in this regard at the Jigani police station earlier. The couple had been living separately for some time now.
The police said that on Monday, Archana, her teenage son and some others had travelled to Jigani to cast their votes for the town municipal corporation elections and were returning home. At around 10 pm, the assailants waylaid the woman’s car near the New Road Junction signal on Hosur road and surrounded it, armed with weapons, police added.
As per the FIR, the accused then broke the window of the car and dragged Archana out, before hacking her to death with machetes. When the vehicle’s driver tried to move the car, the police said that the accused blocked the vehicle by parking a two-wheeler in front of it. Archana was shifted to a private hospital but succumbed to her injuries.
Naveen, one Kasavanhalli Santhosh, and some others have been named as the accused in the FIR. A case has been registered at the Electronic City Police Station under Section 341 (Wrongful restraint), 427 (Mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 307 (Attempt to murder), 302 (Murder), 120b (Criminal conspiracy) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal code (IPC) besides relevant sections of the Arms Act.