Keshav Reddy

murder

Shilpa Reddy

cellphone tower

custodial interrogation

A woman’s seemingly innocent call to her in-laws enquiring whether her husbandhad reached his native place safely, and technology enabling the police to find out her precise location using the mobile tower location data helped investigators arrest her for hisThirty-six-year-old Keshav, a techie working for Actiance India Limited at Divyashree Chambers on O'Shaughnessy Road in Langford Town, was allegedly killed on Saturday night by his wifewho mixed sleeping pills with a juice and slugged him on his head with a blunt weapon when he fell asleep at their Banaswadi residence.Shilpa allegedly took help from her parents – Ramachandra Reddy and Vijayalakshmi – and a 22-year-old cousin Vasudev Reddy to dispose off Keshav’s body next to a lake near Sreenivasapur in Kolar district.It has been alleged that Shilpa was having an affair with Vasudev and the two were planning to settle abroad.Everything seemed okay for the way they had planned ‘getting rid of’ Keshav, but for one thing which aroused suspicion – Shilpa on late Saturday night had called Keshav’s brother Thirumala Reddy who lived in Kothapalli near Madanapalle in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, to enquire whether Keshav had reached his native place there safely.Obviously, he had not because at that very moment he lay dead by the lake near Sreenivasapur. But Thirumala was quick to suspect something was fishy about this call that Shilpa had made to him.The next morning, Keshav’s body was discovered near Sreenivasapur with his ID card and other belongings on his person. His family members in Kothapalli, including Thirumala, were informed that he was found murdered.Almost immediately and beside himself with shock and grief, Thirumala suspected that Shilpa could have had a role to play in Keshav’s murder. He informed the police about his suspicions. According to his statement to the police, Shilpa had never before called this way to find out whether his brother had reached his native safely during the many trips that he had made to Kothapalli before. The call she made could have been to prevent them from suspecting her of any involvement.The police, acting on Thirumala’s suspicions, scanned herlocations for Saturday, which revealed that she had visited Sreenivasapur where the body of techie was found on Sunday with his ID card and other belongings.The police arrested Shilpa who then allegedly confessed to the crime. Based on her confession, Vasudeva Reddy and her parents, Ramachandra and Vijayalakshmi, too were arrested. Cellphone tower locations also revealed that on late Saturday evening Vasudev and Shilpa’s parents too had visited the spot where Keshav’s body was found. According to Sreenivasapur police, Shilpa made varying statements during her– ranging from torture meted out to her by Keshav, sexual harassment to being money-minded, keeping her in the house like a servant, and curtailing her freedom to use social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp.However, with allegations from Keshav’s side of the family of Shilpa affair with Vasudev pointing towards Keshav’s murder, the police now plan to probe every angle to get to the facts of the case.