A 53-year-old software engineer in Bengaluru has been arrested for allegedly poisoning to death a 45-year-old relative with whom he was having an affair, after she decided to marry another man.
DCP (Whitefield) Shivakumar Gunare, identified the man as Imad Basha, a resident of Spice Garden near Marathahalli, and the victim as Uzma Khan, who hailed from Kacharakanahalli.
Both had separated from their spouses eight years ago, the police said, adding that while their marriage plans did not materialise, they remained in contact with each other.
Ten months ago, Basha decided to relocate to Mumbai and vacated his flat, and Uzma moved to her mother’s home in HBR Layout. However, Basha returned to Bengaluru and stayed at Deepam Apartment in Kundalahalli.
Uzma often visited him, and during one of her visits, Basha cloned her mobile phone, allowing him to access all her messages, according to the police.
The police found out that Uzma had been planning to marry a Pakistani national working in Australia, a choice Basha did not approve of. On December 31, 2024, Basha sent photos of himself cooking in his flat and invited her to celebrate the New Year with him. She arrived at the apartment by 9.30 pm and there was noise coming from the flat till around 12.30 am, according to the police.
Around noon on January 1, Basha allegedly sent messages to relatives claiming that his first wife was creating problems over his relationship with Uzma and that they were therefore ending their lives. Uzma’s brother Himayath Khan immediately called the police helpline and by 1 pm, officers arrived at the scene. By then, Uzma was dead while Basha, who was alive, was shifted to a nearby hospital.
However, Uzma’s postmortem report revealed that she had died at least eight hours before Basha sent those messages, the police said.
The investigations revealed that Basha had laced Uzma’s food with poison while consuming non-lethal toilet cleaner himself to make it appear like a suicide attempt.
The police are awaiting a forensic report to confirm whether Uzma was also strangled before being poisoned.
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