Bengaluru horror: Daughter and lover kill 46-year-old mother, tried to stage bathroom fall

BENGALURU: A 29-year-old married woman and her 20-year-old lover were arrested for strangling her 46-year-old mother to death and trying to pass it off as a death due to a fall in the bathroom of their house in Hongasandra, southeast Bengaluru.
The arrested have been identified as Pavitra and Lavanish. The deceased is Jayalakshmi, a homemaker. Citing preliminary investigation, police said the duo killed Jayalakshmi — who had opposed their illicit relationship — by smothering and strangling her on Sept 11.
Pavitra was married to her mother's brother Suresha. The couple has two children, aged 10 and six. Pavitra and Suresha lived with the former's parents Jayalakshmi and Muniraju. She and Suresha were taking care of a petty shop on the ground floor of the house. Lavanish had rented the house one-and-a-half years ago. Pavitra and Lavanish started an affair, but Jayalakshmi got wind of it and opposed the relationship.
She restricted Pavitra from meeting Lavanish and also threatened to inform Suresha and Muniraju.
Pavitra and Lavanish then hatched a conspiracy to kill Jayalakshmi. They allegedly executed the plan around 3.30pm. Pavitra concocted a story that her mother had fallen in the bathroom, was taking rest on the cot, and died after some time. Bommanahalli police learnt about Jayalakshmi's death around 5.30pm.
The doctors who conducted postmortem on Thursday informed police there were ligature marks on Jayalakshmi's neck and she had died of strangulation. Police detained Pavitra for interrogation and she spilled the beans. Both she and Lavanish were arrested on Friday.