A Karnataka businessman, Muniswamy Gowda, has been arrested for allegedly murdering a man who resembled him in a bid to fraudulently claim insurance benefits. His wife, Shilparani, who was reportedly involved in the scheme, is currently on the run.
According to reports, Gowda and a truck driver, Devendra Nayaka, were arrested for conspiring and executing the murder of an unidentified man, whom they used as a stand-in for Gowda. The plan was designed to make it look like Gowda had died in a road accident, thereby allowing his wife to claim life insurance benefits.
In a plot that reads like a crime thriller, Shilparani identified the body as her husband’s after it was found on the roadside in Gollarahalli on August 13. She claimed that her “husband” had died while changing a flat tire. The body was subsequently cremated, and Shilparani began the process of claiming the insurance money.
The couple, who reside in Hoskote in Bengaluru Rural district, had devised this scheme to clear their mounting debts. Gowda had taken out several life insurance policies, naming his wife as the beneficiary, according to Superintendent of Police Mohammad Sujeetha from Hassan.
Police investigations revealed that the couple lured the victim—a homeless man—by offering him food and shelter. After gaining his trust, they took him on a trip, during which Gowda pretended to have a flat tire. Under the guise of fixing it, he allegedly pushed the man under the wheels of a truck driven by Nayaka, making it appear as if the man had been killed in an accident.
The plot unraveled when Gowda, who was supposed to be “dead,” was spotted by a distant relative, Srinivas, who also happened to be a police inspector at Sidlaghatta police station in Chikkaballapura. Suspicious of seeing Gowda alive after his supposed funeral, Srinivas immediately alerted the Gandasi police, leading to an investigation.
When confronted, Gowda confessed to the crime, admitting that he had accumulated significant debts from his tire business and saw the insurance payout as a way out of his financial troubles.
