BENGALURU: Gathering inside the station, the Tilaknagar police posse were lost in thought. They were trying to trace a missing family: a man in his late 50s, his wife, and their daughter. Despite painstaking efforts, their search was in vain. Akshay BJ, 27, who had come to the station claiming his parents and sister were missing, lamented the police’s inability to locate them. Police Inspector Vishwanath K was contemplating the next move when suddenly, a mobile phone ringtone sounded from Akshay’s trouser pocket. As others looked at him, Akshay’s face turned pale.
“Sir, I gave the ring to his sister’s mobile, and it is ringing now,” said a constable to Vishwanath.
K. Vishwanath police inspector Tilak nagar ps
That was enough for Vishwanath and his team to suspect that something was amiss in the missing-person case, and that Akshay was hiding something. Searching Akshay, the cops found three SIM cards — those of his ‘missing’ parents and sister. Joint commissioner of Police-East, Ramesh Banoth, said the ringtone changed the entire investigation. “Tilaknagar police officials sensed something amiss from the beginning, as Akshay not only made contradictory statements but also tried to mislead us whenever we sought details on certain blank points. Officials were randomly dialing his parents’ and sister’s numbers, which were switched off. But on the morning of January 30, while Akshay went out for a tea break, he switched on his sister’s mobile to mislead the police into thinking they were somewhere in Bengaluru,” he said. This was how the mysterious case of three missing persons turned into a horrifying one: the son had hatched and executed the killings in an inhuman way. After slitting their throats with an axe blade, he dug a 10-foot-deep pit inside their Kottur residence in Vijayanagar district. City police arrested Akshay for killing the three, along with his uncle Vasanth, who was involved by giving tips on destroying evidence. Akshay runs a tyre-remoulding factory in his hometown, Kotturu. Deputy Commissioner of Police-South East, Mohammad Sujeetha, said, “We arrested two accused persons in the case: Akshay and his uncle Vasanth. Though the prime accused, Akshay, claimed personal reasons behind the killings, we strongly suspect other motives. However, we need to investigate the case from all possible angles to find the truth.” Another officer from Vijayanagar added that Bheemaraj had sold a property in Harappanahalli, Davanagere, fetching Rs 1.2 crore. “Bheemaraj had deposited the cash in a bank account, and Akshay had spent a portion of it. According to him, Bheemaraj was unaware of the spending,” he said. The tragic drama unfolded on the night of January 29 when Akshay stepped into Tilaknagar police station to file a complaint about his missing parents — Bheemraj H, Jayalakshmi J, and sister Amrita. According to him, they had come to the city on January 28 intending to visit Jayadeva Hospital. Bheemaraj had health issues, and doctors from his hometown had advised a hospital visit. To strengthen his claim, Akshay showed photos on his mobile, saying his father and sister had sent them after reaching Jayadeva. Indeed, the pictures were taken near the hospital. “My sister told me that Jayadeva hospital staff had seized her mobile for recording inside the hospital,” Akshay claimed. “At least 15 police personnel were put on the job that night. We were panicked on hearing that the couple and their daughter had gone missing. We first contacted Jayadeva, but they firmly said they did not have any patient by the name Bheemaraj. Some of our officials scanned CCTV footage for the previous two days but did not find Bheemaraj or the others. Different police teams visited various hospitals, including Nimhans and Victoria, but in vain,” Banoth said. Meanwhile, police, having collected the mobile numbers of the three, were randomly dialing them — all were switched off. Police thought leaving Akshay alone was risky, as he seemed panicked. A constable was assigned to him, and they went to a nearby hotel to rest. While walking, the constable explained to Akshay how the team was trying to locate the missing family. “We are continuously dialing their numbers, but they are switched off,” he said. The next morning, Akshay woke before the constable and visited a nearby tea shop, where he switched on his sister’s mobile so that the police would think they were somewhere in the city. However, like many criminals who make mistakes, he forgot to put the phone on silent mode. The entire case took a turn when, inside the police station, a constable dialed his sister’s number, which rang from Akshay’s trouser pocket. Later, the cops found the SIM cards of his father and mother. Then Akshay confessed, revealing one of the most horrific crimes the police had ever encountered. “I killed the three and buried their bodies inside our house. I did it because my sister wanted to marry a man of a different caste, and my parents supported her,” Akshay claimed. “First, I killed my mother on the afternoon of January 26 and hid her body in the bedroom. In the evening, my sister entered the house, and I killed her. My father came at night, and I killed him too. I kept the bodies in a bedroom and covered them with a bedsheet. At midnight, I caught a KSRTC bus and reached Bengaluru in the morning,” Akshay said. That day, Akshay intentionally left his mobile at home and carried the three phones of his parents and sister. After arriving in the city, he visited Jayadeva Hospital, clicked pictures from the mobile phones, and sent them to his own phone. That afternoon, he travelled back. “On January 27 and 28, I dug the pit using a drilling machine. I kept the TV volume high so neighbors would not hear the drilling. Again, I took a bus to Bengaluru on the morning of January 29 and reached in the evening,” Akshay explained. “After coming to the city, I met my uncle Vasanth. He knew I killed the three and suggested I file a missing-person complaint so that the police investigation would derail,” Akshay told cops. After zeroing in on Akshay on January 30, Tilaknagar police alerted their counterparts in Vijayanagar. The team rushed to the house, broke open the door, and recovered the bodies after digging the pit. The entire process was video recorded. Tilaknagar police have now taken Akshay into 10-day police custody for further questioning, while his uncle Vasanth was handed over to judicial custody.
