BENGALURU: A 24-year-old techie accused of stabbing her parents and younger sister to death in Bengaluru with the help of her live-in partner has been arrested, police said.M Shwetha was arrested in Pondicherry after a massive manhunt following the murder of her father Somasundar, 52, mother Muthulakshmi, 48, and younger sister Supriya, 19, inside their Seegehalli apartment in east Bengaluru on Monday night.Police said Shwetha and her partner J Kenneth, both engineering graduates and former classmates, allegedly carried out the killings following a dispute over her unpaid bank loans, which had reportedly crossed Rs 30 lakh.The accused couple had kept their live-in relationship hidden from their families for over a year, police said.After bank notices over Shwetha’s loans began arriving at the family’s Marathahalli residence, her mother went to the couple’s apartment on Sunday evening. Somasundar and Supriya reached the flat the following day.Police said an argument over the loans turned violent. Neighbours heard screams around 10pm, after which Somasundar was found bleeding on the staircase.“There were at least 50 stab wounds on the victims’ bodies,” an investigating officer revealed.CCTV footage from the apartment complex allegedly showed Shwetha and Kenneth fleeing soon after the attack.“They jumped out from their balcony and rushed towards the parking lot, before riding away,” a police officer said.Police said Kenneth had told his family that he was working in Hyderabad and living there, while his parents were unaware of his relationship with Shwetha.“Shwetha and Kenneth were so detached from their families that none of their parents knew their whereabouts,” the officer said.“Kenneth told his parents that he was working in Hyderabad and lived there. When we visited them at their residence, they were shocked, saying that all this while they knew Kenneth was in Hyderabad,” another officer said.All three victims were rushed to a nearby private hospital. While Muthulakshmi and Supriya were declared brought dead, Somasundar later succumbed to his injuries.“In his dying declaration, Somasundar told us about Shwetha’s unpaid loans and that he wanted her to return home for now and later get married to Kenneth,” police said.
