Bengaluru: An unidentified burnt body was found in a coffee plantation in Kodagu district of Karnataka three weeks ago. In this case, the police have now discovered a gruesome murder conspiracy.

According to information received, 54-year-old businessman Ramesh went missing a few weeks ago. Police have now found out that his wife Niharika, her lover Nikhil and another accused Ankur hatched a gruesome murder plot for the businessman's money and crossed the state border to dispose of the body. All three have been arrested.

Police recovered a dead body

On October 8, the police found a burnt body in a coffee plantation near Sanatikoppa in Kodagu. When attempts to identify the body failed, the police began scanning CCTV footage to check vehicles passing through the area.

A red Mercedes Benz caught their attention. The car was found registered in the name of Ramesh, whose wife had recently filed a missing person complaint. The police then contacted their counterparts in Telangana, where the car was registered.

This is how the matter was revealed

As the investigation into the case progressed, the police suspected the role of Ramesh's wife Niharika P (29). When she was taken into custody, she confessed to her involvement in Ramesh's murder and named her accomplices, veterinarian Nikhil and Ankur.

Police found that Niharika had a troubled childhood. When she was 16, her father died and her mother remarried. She excelled in studies, completed engineering and started working. She got married at a young age, became a mother and later got separated. At some point, when she was in Haryana, she got involved in financial fraud and went to jail. She met Ankur in jail.

This is how the murder was carried out

After coming out of jail, Niharika married Ramesh. This was her second marriage too. The businessman gave Niharika a luxurious lifestyle and she got addicted to it.

At one point, she asked him for Rs 8 crore. Ramesh refused Niharika's demand and this angered Niharika. She was in a relationship with Nikhil and along with him and Ankur, she conspired to murder Ramesh to take over his property.

The businessman was strangled to death in Uppal, Hyderabad on October 1. The accused came back to his house, took the cash and left for Bengaluru. After refuelling, they drove to Kodagu, over 800 km from Uppal.

There they disposed of the body in a coffee estate. The body was covered with a blanket and set on fire. After this, the three returned to Hyderabad and Niharika filed a missing person report for Ramesh.

What did the police say about the matter?

Kodagu police chief Ramarajan said it was a challenging case as everything was completely destroyed. Prima facie, we determined that the body was burnt 3-4 days before the complaint was lodged. Our crime team began investigating suspicious activities in the area.

They found that on Saturday, between 12 pm and 2 pm, a vehicle was moving suspiciously in the area. We checked the CCTV footage, but the images were not clear as it was night.

So, we checked the footage of 500 CCTV cameras till Tumkur. With all the technical evidence, we were able to trace a vehicle from Telangana that belonged to a businessman named Ramesh.

He said, Based on our investigation, we have arrested several suspects, identified as 29-year-old Niharika and 28-year-old veterinarian Nikhil. Niharika is the prime suspect; she allegedly killed the car owner Ramesh. Niharika, along with Nikhil and another accomplice Ankur, killed him and disposed of the body.