'He said we were going on a trip': Boy narrates events after Bengaluru cab driver killed family

A Bengaluru cab driver allegedly killed his wife and six of her relatives and dumped some of the bodies across Karnataka while his 11-year-old nephew, whose parents were among the dead, travelled with him believing they were on a holiday, police said on Friday.

Indusekar alias Sekar, who also runs a Kannada-English monthly tabloid, allegedly confessed during interrogation, Bengaluru police commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh said. The victims were his wife Sunita, his mother-in-law Rupavathi, his brothers-in-law Shankar and Shivakumar, their wives Nalini and Divya, and Shivakumar and Divya’s seven-year-old son. Shankar and Nalini were the boy’s parents.

“The accused claimed to have committed the murders over 15 to 20 days, a timeline that is still being verified,” Singh said. “He is giving a version that he called them one by one, murdered them, and disposed of the bodies in places he has indicated.”

Police have recovered the child victim's body near Nandi Hills. “Six bodies are yet to be found,” Singh said.

The boy, rescued when Indusekar was arrested, told reporters that his uncle took him to Kempegowda International Airport, the Kukke Subrahmanya temple in Dakshina Kannada district, Dharmasthala and Sringeri.

“Whenever I asked about my parents, he changed the topic and told me that we were going on a trip. He kept throwing big plastic bags out of the car and, when I asked him about it, he said he was throwing garbage,” he said.

He said his family went to dinner at Indusekar’s house on October 31 and stayed the night because the accused insisted. The next morning, his father was missing. His mother went out to look for him, and when the boy tried to follow, the accused’s daughter pulled him back inside and shut the door.

“I heard my uncle and my mother shouting loudly. I do not know what happened after that,” he said.

Police said Indusekar then took the boy with him and told him his aunt had gone on an all-India trip.

Officers aware of the investigation said Indusekar allegedly killed Sunita first, with a grinding stone, and dumped her body near Nandi Hills in Chikkaballapur district. He switched off her phone and told neighbours she had gone on a trip. The next day, he allegedly invited both brothers-in-law and their families to his house for a party and killed the two men, and then Divya, Nalini, Rupavathi and Puneeth. Police have seized the grinding stone and the car, and are still investigating how the others were killed. He allegedly used chemicals to clean bloodstains from his house in Rajajinagar.

Police suspect Indusekar kept the boy with him to answer calls and send messages to relatives to make it seem the family was travelling. He allegedly kept the victims’ phones, replied to messages on their behalf and told relatives they had gone on an all-India trip. Police suspect he planned to kill the boy once they were back in Bengaluru.

The case came to light after Nalini’s mother filed a missing-person complaint at Srirampura police station on November 3. Investigators tracking the family’s phones found that their locations repeatedly matched Indusekar’s. When he drove back into Bengaluru, police stopped his car in Halasuru, noticed a foul smell inside and found the victims’ phones kept together in a hand cover.

Singh said police were also questioning Indusekar’s minor daughter. “There is an angle that he also took her help,” he said.

Police said Indusekar was upset over his wife’s frequent visits to her mother’s home in the same city. Home minister Priyank Kharge said the motive was yet to be established and cautioned against conclusions about the accused’s mental health or property disputes.