A 23-year-old woman from Hyderabad was murdered by her former live-in partner in Bengaluru’s Kodihalli. The accused, who has been identified as Gurijala Arpit, a 27-year-old Byju’s employee from Delhi, strangled the victim in her apartment on Monday, June 5, while her roommate was away. Akanksha Bidyasar, the victim, was a former Byju's employee. She met Arpit in Hyderabad where they worked together about two years ago. Arpit was Akanksha’s manager during this period before she moved to the Bengaluru branch of Byju’s in 2022.
She switched companies five months ago to work in a private firm called Entab, a software company. Although they were no longer living together, Akanksha had some of Arpit’s belongings with her, which he said he would collect on Tuesday afternoon.
The incident took place at around 3:10 PM on Monday when Arpit allegedly strangled her to death. Akanksha’s roommate arrived home at around 6:15 PM to find her lying motionless on the living room floor. She contacted the police and the victim’s mother immediately. Akanksha’s mother flew in from Hyderabad and registered a complaint with the JeevanBheemanagar Police Station on Tuesday. Upon visiting her daughter’s residence the previous day, she found Arpit’s wallet, bag and tissue paper on the coffee table. Looking at the CCTV footage, the police were able to identify Arpit as he entered and left the apartment alone.
The First Information Report (FIR) she filed with the police read that a veil was tied to the living room fan and a chair stood beneath it, almost as if Arpit had tried to paint Akanksha’s death as a suicide instead. The JeevanBheemanagar Police have booked the accused under Indian Penal Code (IPC) 1860 under section 201 (Causing disappearance of evidence of the offence or giving false information to screen offender) and section 302 (punishment for murder).
The police have started investigating the case. “We are currently looking for the accused”, they said.