Informant helps cops solve year-old murder of woman

Police arrest woman's lover and his two accomplices

Informant helps cops solve year-old murder of woman

Police arrest woman's lover and his two accomplices

More than a year after the murder of a woman from Bangalore in the city, it has come to light that her lover was involved in the killing. Acting on a tip-off, the police arrested Vishwanath Shetty (28) a hotelier for throttling his girlfriend and then dumping her decomposed body at an isolated spot. Vishwanath had accidentally confessed to his role in the murder of Ramiya alias Simran Govind Reddy to a friend, which was then picked up the police through an informant.

In the net: The three who were arrested by the police for killing
Ramiya Reddy

In March 2010, Shetty had accompanied Ramiya's brother to the police station to lodge a missing complaint when she failed to return to Bangalore. He was questioned by the police several times, but each time he remained tight-lipped and the investigations had come to a dead end.u00a0u00a0

What happened
Ramiya was allegedly strangulated by Vishwanath and one Sudhakar Shetty on March 14 last year at Nityanand lodge on Pune-Satara Road. She allegedly demanded about Rs 50,000 from Vishwanath leading to arguments.
In a fit of rage, Vishwanath and Sudhakar throttled her and then dumped her body in a empty water tank on the terrace of Nityanand lodge. After three days, when the body started decomposing, Vishwanath decided to dispose it.

Vishwanath and two co-managers from the same lodge namely Dipakkumar Sigwal (28) and Suresh Manju Kothari (33) transferred her decomposed body into a metal trunk and carried it to the isolated spot in Khambataki Ghat area near Satara where they hurled it on the night of March 17.

On March 18, Vishwanath accompanied Ramiya's brother to lodge a police complaint. He lied to her brother that he had dropped her at a bus stop on Satara Road. On March 23, the Khandala police lodged a double murder case after they recovered the decomposed body of Ramiya along with another body. The second body was discovered some 10-feet away from Ramiya's at an isolated spot in Khambataki. When Vishwanath came to know about this, he abandoned his plan to surrender to the police fearing he would be inculpated for the twin murders.

Police Inspector Bahanupratap Barge, Social Security Cell, said Ramiya was working as a call girl and was in a live-in relationship with Vishwanath on the condition that she gives up prostitution. But Ramiya allegedly did not give up her ways, which caused the friction between the couple, he said.

"Constable Ashok Takalkar received a tip-off about Vishwanath's role in the murder. We then laid a trap near the City Pride Hotel and arrested him and his two other partners in crime," Barge said. The police are still looking for Sudhakar Shetty who allegedly helped him kill Ramiya. The arrested were transferred to the Satara police for investigations.

Masochistic traits
Ramiya's body could be identified because of a tattoo on her hand depicting an eagle and her name. Her brother had mentioned the tattoo. Close friends said she had masochistic tendencies and had got theu00a0 tattoo to hide cut marks which she had herself inflicted.

Human intelligence
Police Constable Ashok Takalkar proved that informants can help in cracking a case. Last week, he was felicitated when a member of Mahakali gang was arrested on a tip-off received by him.