Udupi : The government on Tuesday decided to transfer the Bhaskar Shetty murder case to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), even as the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate remanded the three main accused in judicial custody till August 24.
The businessman was allegedly killed by his wife and son, who then disposed of his body in a ‘yagna kunda’ with the help of a priest.
Udupi MLA and Minister for Fisheries, Youth Empowerment and Sports Pramod Madhwaraj told that he had received communication from the Home Minister’s office on the decision to transfer the case to CID.
Bhaskar Shetty went missing from his house here on July 28 and his mother, Gulabi Shetty, lodged a missing complaint at the Manipal police station on July 29. The police arrested his wife Rajeshwari (46) and son Navneet (24) on the charge of murder and destroying evidence, here on August 7.
They also arrested priest Niranjan Bhat (25), who was close to Rajeshwari and Navneet, in Nitte on August 8 for allegedly disposing of Bhaskar Shetty’s body after burning it in the yagna kunda in his house at Nandalike village. So far, the police have not recovered the body.
The police arrested two more accused — Srinivas Bhat, Niranjan’s father, and Raghavendra, Niranjan’s driver, in Nandalike village on August 10 on the charge of destruction of evidence.
Praveen Kumar R.N., Senior Assistant Public Prosecutor, told presspersons here on Tuesday that Rajeshwari had been shifted to the Central Jail in Mangaluru as there was no women’s cell at the District Central Jail in Anjar near here.
Meanwhile, the court will hear the police plea for DNA profiling on August 18. The police had moved an application for collection of blood samples of Bhaskar Shetty’s mother and brother for this purpose on August 13.
Suman D.P., Assistant Superintendent of Police and Investigating Officer, said that the police had marked all spots that the accused used for committing the crime.
The accused had disposed of bones and ashes in a rivulet in one place, the pesticide bottle used to poison Bhaskar Shetty in the rivulet in another place, and plastic bucket and mug used to clean the place of crime in the rivulet at a third place.
“We will start searching for things related to the crime at Kadandale, Palli and Kalkaru. But we will concentrate on Palli village as bones and ashes were disposed of there,” she said. “It might take 15 to 25 days to get the crucial DNA report as it required time to identify minute traces.”
Meanwhile, Sumathi Shetty, mother of Rajeshwari, told presspersons here that Rajeshwari and Navneet might have killed Bhaskar Shetty in self defence as he was threatening her. Bhaskar Shetty had been threatening her daughter and was forcing her to divorce him, she alleged.