Wife arrested for Karnataka ex-DGP's murder; son says she threatened him

BENGALURU: The 64-year-old wife of retired Karnataka DGP Om Prakash was arrested on Monday for his murder, based on her purported confession about stabbing him more than 10 times at home and their son Karthikesh's statement to police that he suspected his mother and sister of conspiring to kill the former IPS officer.

Investigators said they were still to arrive at a watertight motive for the murder, although prime suspect Pallavi claimed she was a victim of domestic violence and that she acted alone. Pallavi said her daughter Kriti, whom police had detained along with her the previous evening, was "depressed" and had no role to play in the crime.

Kriti was allowed to leave after questioning. "It's been difficult interrogating Pallavi and Kriti as they aren't speaking coherently," a police officer said.


For a week, mom had been threatening to kill dad: Ex-DGP's son

I have suffered domestic violence," Pallavi told mediapersons thrice while being taken to a magistrate, who remanded her in judicial custody. Later, Bengaluru city commissioner of police B Dayananda transferred the case to the Central Crime Branch.

Karthikesh, 39, said in his complaint to the police that his mother had been issuing death threats to his father for more than a week, prompting Prakash to temporarily move into his sister Saritha Kumari's house. Kriti convinced Prakash to return home last Friday, he said.

The family resides in a four-storey building in the upscale HSR Layout in Bengaluru. Prakash and Pallavi stayed on the ground floor, Karthikesh on the first floor with his wife and child, and Kriti on the third floor. The second floor has a tenant. On Sunday, Prakash had ordered fish fry online for lunch and was at the dining table when Pallavi allegedly sprayed chilli powder on his face and stabbed him with a kitchen knife in the neck, shoulder and abdomen. She allegedly also hit him with an oil bottle, police said.

Karthikesh said he heard about his father's murder from a neighbour around 5pm that day. "After killing Prakash, Pallavi texted one of her friends, the wife of a retired IPS colleague of her husband, stating that she had killed 'a monster'," an officer said. Pallavi also made a WhatsApp video call to the retired officer's wife and showed Prakash's body lying in a pool of blood, police said.