Belagavi police launched an investigation into the death after receiving a possible murder complaint from the 47-year-old daughter of a moneylender and real estate agent.
Santosh Dandappa Padmanavar's body was exhumed after his 18-year-old daughter Sanjana complained.
The girl was studying in Bangalore and returned to the city the day after his death. She was not convinced that her father had died of a heart attack. She then filed a complaint with the police.
Her complaint names her 41-year-old mother Uma, her 30-year-old friend Shobhit Gowda from Mangaluru, her two servants Nanda and Prakash, and an unidentified man.
Police exhumed the body and conducted a post-mortem after taking proper permission from Sub-Magistrate Shravan Kumar.
Police Commissioner Iada Martin Marbanian said on Wednesday that the autopsy report would be released soon.
Santosh lived with his wife and sons in a three-storey building in Anjaneya Nagar. His wife Uma informed his family and loved ones that he passed away from a heart attack on the night of October 9th.
It may be mentioned that Santosh was a person who had a lot of financial influence and owned various luxury cars. He had about 12 surveillance cameras installed at his home.
Last rites were performed and the body was buried the next day. His daughter Sanjana expressed her wish to watch his last moments through the home's surveillance cameras. But her mother delayed showing it to her. The daughter suspected that her mother had deleted some footage.
She doubted that her father was healthy and could not have died due to a heart attack. She sought the help of some relatives to lodge a complaint at Marumaruti police station on Tuesday.
Investigators revealed that Uma was angry over the abuse she received from Santosh. Santosh was angry that Uma had formed an online relationship with his friend.
Police officers suspected that Santosh may have been strangled to death by more than one person because the woman gave him sleeping pills.
Police were not able to get complete footage from the building's CCTV cameras, but they did get some from a camera at Santosh's neighbor's house. One of the clips shows two people leaving the victim's home at night.
issued – October 16, 2024 8:10 PM IST
