Krishna Shelton, the apartment complex where the boy went missing from
During questioning, Bhaskar claimed his family was burdened with Rs 3 crore in debt and that he hatched the plan hoping to raise Rs 1 crore.
“As the boy died, I picked him up and decided to dispose of the body,” he allegedly told police. Manohar told police they initially assumed Prajwal was out taking part in Ganesh festivities and began looking for him only in the night when he did not return home. Thereafter, we started looking for Prajwal and went to Yelahanka police station to lodge a complaint,” he said. Yelahanka police subsequently told Manohar that an unidentified boy’s body had been recovered in connection with a suspected accident and asked him to check the mortuary at Dr Ambedkar Hospital. However, police said he has not yet been able to give investigators a clear explanation of why Prajwal was targeted or how the alleged plan was to be executed.
Bengaluru: When police confronted Bhaskar Reddy after finding the body of a boy wrapped in an old bed inside his car, he had a ready explanation: an unknown pedestrian who had come under the wheels of his car near Hosahalli Junction. Prajwal’s father Manohar was frantically searching for his son While Bhaskar was attempting to cook up an accident story. The family had searched for the boy through the night. Interestingly, Wala Tirupal Reddy, Bhaskar’s father, had joined Manohar in the search for the missing boy, unaware of what his own son had done. Manohar rushed there, hoping for answers. But the boy’s face had been so badly disfigured that he could not establish the identity. Dejected and panic-stricken, the family returned to the police station. Then came the phone call that changed everything. Tirupal Reddy’s wife called him to say their son Bhaskar had been detained at Chikkajala police station after police found a body inside his car following the accident. Manohar and Tirupal Reddy rushed to Chikkajala police station. When Bhaskar saw his father standing alongside Manohar, he confessed to kidnapping and killing Prajwal. The police are now investigating whether the alleged debt and ransom angle was genuine and whether anyone else was involved. Bhaskar has been remanded in police custody for seven days. Investigators are also searching for his alleged accomplice Edukondalu, who fled after the murder.
Manohar approached Yelahanka police on Thursday morning and reported Prajwal missing.
He was 13-year-old M Prajwal, son of Bhaskar’s former neighbour.
Prajwal did not suspect any harm from Bhaskar,” a police officer said. But the cops were not convinced. The dead boy was not an unknown pedestrian. “He tried to mislead us.