Police arrest realtor for murder of six-year-old girl in Kadugodi

The Kadugodi police have registered a murder case against a woman and her boyfriend following a reinvestigation into the death of a six-year-old girl in the Seegehalli area of Kadugodi in Bengaluru. The child, identified as P Vennela, was allegedly kicked in the stomach and smothered to death on March 24.

Following the registration of the murder case, the police arrested the mother's boyfriend, G Mohan, who works as a realtor. Officers have also launched a manhunt for the child's mother, Priyanka, an advocate, who remains elusive. The case was registered after a reinvestigation into the three-month-old death, which was initially reported under mysterious circumstances.

Vennela was the second daughter of Priyanka and her husband, Praveen. Praveen runs the Cloud9 school in the Davanagere district of Karnataka. According to the police complaint filed by Praveen, Priyanka had been living with Mohan, who was her college classmate.

At the time of the girl's death on March 24, Priyanka had told Praveen that Vennela had eaten biryani and ice cream, after which she made the child sleep inside a car with the air conditioning turned on, resulting in her death.

Praveen did not believe this explanation and sent the child's medical and autopsy reports to his elder sister, a doctor living abroad. After his sister reviewed the documents and expressed doubts about the circumstances of the death, Praveen approached the local authorities to seek an investigation.

Based on the medical doubts, Praveen lodged a formal complaint with the Kadugodi police. In the complaint, he accused Priyanka and Mohan of kicking Vennela in her stomach and smothering her to death.

The Kadugodi police subsequently launched a reinvestigation into the case, which led to the registration of the murder case. While Mohan has been taken into custody, police teams are continuing their efforts to track down Priyanka, who has gone into hiding.