The K.R. Puram police, on Wednesday, tracked down and arrested software engineer Amrutha Chandrashekhar, 33, in Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, where she was hiding with a male friend after allegedly stabbing her mother to death and attacking her younger brother with a knife in their house at K.R. Puram. The alleged crimes took place early Sunday morning.
“When we scanned CCTV footage from neighbouring houses, we saw Amrutha leave with a man who was waiting near the house on his scooter,” said a police officer.
The male friend has been identified as Sridhar Rao. “They were hiding in Port Blair. We have arrested the accused and are escorting them back to Bengaluru,” said a senior police officer.
Attack planned 15 days ago
According to the police, Amrutha and Sridhar had planned the murder a fortnight ago. “It was Amrutha who booked their tickets to Port Blair,” said the police, who tracked the route the couple took to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) by analysing footage from hundreds of CCTV cameras.
After obtaining details of her destination, the police alerted their counterparts in Port Blair and sent pictures of Amrutha. A police team from Port Blair tracked them down to a hotel.
“Though she maintains that she had taken a loan, which she could not repay, as the reason for killing her mother, we suspect that her family did not approve of her relationship with Sridhar. We are also ascertaining why they travelled to Port Blair,” said a senior police inspector.
Last Saturday, Amrutha booked plane tickets for her mother, Nirmala, and brother, Harish, for a quick visit to Hyderabad as she was planning to relocate there on a work assignment. They were scheduled to leave on Sunday morning.
They had dinner together on Saturday night and went to bed as they had to get up early the next day. A little after 4 a.m., she walked into Harish’s room with a knife and slashed his neck.
“Harish jumped out of the bed and started calling his mother. Amrutha told him that she had killed their mother with the same knife. She told him that she had also used an iron rod, and was planning to kill him too,” the police officer added.
He was able to fend her off but sustained injuries on his neck and hands. Amrutha then left the house and rode off with Sridhar.
