Belagavi Police have arrested two men in connection with the murder of city-based moneylender and businessman, Santhosh Dundappa Padmannavar. The suspects, Shobit Gowda from Mangaluru and his associate, Pavan Gowda from Kodagu, were apprehended at a hotel in Hubballi and are now being produced before the court.
CCTV footage from October 9, the day of the murder, captured two unidentified men leaving Santosh’s home in Anjaneya Nagar. Suspicion arose after Santosh’s daughter discovered some of the footage had been deleted, leading her to file a complaint against her mother, Uma, and four others.
According to police, Uma had allegedly conspired with Shobit Gowda, whom she had befriended on social media, to murder her husband after confiding in him about her abusive marriage. On the night of October 9, Uma is suspected of giving her husband sleeping pills before the accused suffocated him using a pillow. She initially claimed that her husband had died of a heart attack, and he was buried the following day.
However, Santosh’s daughter, who had been studying in Bengaluru, grew suspicious upon her return to Belagavi and filed a police complaint. Investigations led by Police Inspector J.M. Kalimirchi uncovered enough evidence to arrest the suspects and prepare a charge-sheet. Uma is also arrested for her alleged role in the murder.