Sowmya, the daughter of businessman Prakash Sulengi, was a resident of Peenya in Bengaluru. A psychology pupil from Surana College, she was pupil. In 2011, she met Nitish, 27, an Accenture worker, on Facebook. Nitish stayed in Rajajinagar and the children quickly fell in love.

“They informed their parents and both families approved of the relationship,” a police officer mentioned. In September 2011, the couple received engaged. The households have been completely satisfied and believed they might get married quickly. But Sowmya quickly found that Nitish was being ‘friendly’ with different ladies, a police officer mentioned. Whenever she confronted him, Nitish defended himself saying they have been “just friends”. The relationship began to bitter and the frequency of their conferences lowered, the officer added.

According to the police chargesheet, this was when Sowmya met 24-year-old Parshwanath Malagatti, who hailed from Belagavi district and stayed in Bengaluru. Sowmya and Parshwanath, a BBM pupil, met on a social networking web site and started exchanging messages over their telephones. Soon, they fell in love, the police mentioned.

A drink laced with ammonium sulphate

According to the police, after Sowmya fell in love with Parshwanath, she determined to not marry Nitish and to homicide him. On October 22, 2012, Sowmya requested Nitish to fulfill her close to Arishinakunte. Nitish got here to the spot on a motorbike, Sowmya sat pillion and so they headed in the direction of Bannerghatta by way of NICE Road, the police mentioned. Parshwanath adopted. After some time, Sowmya requested Nitish to cease the bike to drink juice. Unaware that it was laced with ammonium sulphate, Nitish drank the juice, vomited and fell to the bottom, the police mentioned.

By then, Parshwanath reached the spot. He allegedly strangulated Nitish utilizing Sowmya’s dupatta. Sowmya allegedly hit Nitish on the again of his head with a stone. After the cold-blooded homicide, the duo left the place.

How the accused have been tracked

B Ok Kishore Kumar, a police inspector at Bannerghatta police station, was the investigating officer within the case. The homicide investigation started with the police gathering data on Nitish. The police learnt that he was engaged to Sowmya and that the final name that he acquired was hers.

“We checked whether her mobile phone was also active on the said day at the same place and it turned out to be so,” a police officer who was a part of the probe mentioned. Without revealing that they suspected Sowmya, the investigation crew checked CCTV footage of the roads that they thought Nitish and Sowmya might have taken. “Upon checking the footage, we discovered that Sowmya was with Nitish. On October 29, we arrested Sowmya but Parshwanath was missing,” the officer added.

G N Nagesh, a police inspector at Kamakshipalya police station in Bengaluru, was then a sub-inspector at Bannerghatta. Nagesh recollects how he headed a crew that went to Belagavi and arrested Parshwanath. “He was quick to confess to the murder before the police,” says Nagesh.

Parshwanath was unemployed and stayed in Belagavi city. He got here all the way down to Bengaluru a day earlier than Nitish’s homicide, the police mentioned. Several messages between Sowmya and Parshwanath ended up as essential proof within the case. Sowmya, Nagesh mentioned, had used Google to seek out out the perfect drug to kill somebody and ended up utilizing ammonium sulphate. Parshwanath purchased it for her.

Bail, then loss of life by suicide

Nitish’s homicide made headlines in 2012. Sowmya was arrested and despatched to judicial custody. Later, she was launched on bail. But in March 2013, Sowmya died by suicide at her residence in Peenya. “The incident showed her family in a bad light and she was unable to take it. We believe that she committed suicide because of this,” a police officer mentioned.

In April 2015, a Bengaluru rural district courtroom acquitted Malagatti. The courtroom noticed that the prosecution was counting on circumstantial proof, not direct proof, to show he was responsible. While the courtroom additionally mentioned that it was clear that Nitish’s loss of life was homicidal, a police officer mentioned that Sowmya’s loss of life was a giant setback within the case. “Her statement was needed to bring Malagatti to justice. Also, after Sowmya’s death, investigators started showing disinterest in the case,” the officer added.