This is Police Emergency. How can I help you?
A body has been found near Mount Senoria School.
A dead body?
They say he's dead, madam. They all say he's dead.
Okay, I'll send a unit now.
Hello?
I'm at the scene now, sir. It looks like a murder.
She killed him! She killed her husband!
We've detained the deceased's wife and mother-in-law.
His mother insists that they murdered him.
Look, she killed my son!
Mother!
Look how she killed my son!
Okay, bring the stretcher.
-Shall I get them now, sir? -Yes. Quickly.
Measure the length.
This is my 14th year in the police service.
We never know what cases will come our way.
So there's a lot of thrill in the job.
Especially with a case like this.
Get a move on.
The complaint states that
the mother-daughter duo has committed the murder.
Go in.
Sit there.
Wait here until the inspector arrives.
No one confesses to murder.
They stop at nothing to prove their innocence.
The DCP has arrived.
Move back.
Sir.
His name was Santhosh Kumar, 31 years old.
-When was the body found? -7:00 a.m., sir.
His wife's name is Yamuna.
We've taken her to the station. His wife and her mother, sir.
All injuries are to the head.
-No other injuries? -Nothing else apparent.
Don't open it. Just move it this way.
There aren't any defensive injuries on his arms.
-Take the body away. -Certainly, sir.
You can't move him! Bring her here, kill her!
Why are you looking at me? My son is dead!
That's his mother, sir. And that's the brother.
She's been like this all morning.
-Poor woman has lost her son. -Yes, sir.
That's why we haven't said anything.
Look at my golden boy lying there!
She kills people and takes their money.
Bring her to the station. We can't do this on the street.
Is my son really dead?
I'm the most senior officer in the northern jurisdiction.
As soon as I'm informed of a murder, I go to the scene.
What does the victim's family say to us?
"He's dead now. But the criminals must be punished."
Please, sir, I want justice. Sir, I beg you.
Of course, we will get justice.
"They must be arrested, jailed and hanged."
That's what they expect of the police.
It's our responsibility to fulfil those expectations.
Sir, Public TV.
At around 7:00 this morning,
a corpse was found in a sack.
We're registering a murder case at Nandini Layout Police Station.
We'll find the culprits as soon as possible.
Sir, are the family accusing his wife of the murder?
Have they only been married a year?
You may have seen his mother.
She's accusing the deceased's wife and mother-in-law.
The wife and her mother live in one house. The victim's family live in another.
Santhosh lived at both houses.
His family claim that his wife and mother-in-law
tried to extort property from him.
They say this is why they murdered him.
We'll register the complaint and find the culprits.
Or whoever's behind it.
Thank you, sir.
There was no blood, which confirmed our suspicion
that the murder happened prior to moving the body here.
Let's go to their house.
We'll search the house for clues.
It's more difficult if some days have passed, but this is a fresh case.
So we must search the house.
If the murder happened there, we'll find something.
Looks like there's been a celebration here.
-What's all this for? -My sister's birthday.
-What's your sister's name? -Yamuna.
-What does your father do? -I don't have a father.
-No father? Is he dead? -No, my parents are divorced.
They live separately?
Flashy tastes, sir.
I can't tolerate so much stuff in my house, even for a day.
I wouldn't allow such decoration.
This must be the girl.
She looks young, doesn't she?
She's 19, sir.
-Who is this? -My sister, in 5th grade.
Old photo.
-Where are the recent photos? -In the wedding album.
-Go, get it. -Show me.
Bring it.
-Who's this? -My mother.
-Is this your mother? -Yes.
-Is this the guy? -Yes, sir.
Bring this.
Finding out where the crime took place is vital.
But we didn't find a clue there.
Where did it take place? How? What's the motive?
These are basic questions. Without these, we can't solve it.
They disposed of a body stuffed in a sack.
Dumping a corpse in a public place causes great panic.
We must find the connection between the victim and the accused.
There could be financial issues, extramarital affairs.
We must uncover the story
that ended with this offence.
What should I put? It was a love marriage?
Yes.
-Was it their first anniversary recently? -Yes.
Did you get them married?
Yes, sir. We spent two million rupees on a grand wedding.
There were 10,000 guests.
She asked for the earrings they wear in films.
I had five gold necklaces, bangles and earrings made for her.
-Did he move in with you? -Yes, because I was unwell.
Why did he come…
So because of your health,
you moved in with your mother, along with your husband?
Yes.
-What's your mother's name? -Shamala K.
Was Yamuna under her mother's thumb?
She's just like her mother.
Were the husband and wife happy?
She lived with us at first, but she made him move out with her.
She let him in the house, but didn't sleep with him.
They didn't sleep together like a married couple.
They've been extorting money from him for two years.
They were pressuring him to put the house in her name.
-When did you see him last? -Yesterday.
Yesterday at 1:30.
She killed Santhosh. I told my brother-in-law.
They killed him and put him in a sack.
-The small girl? -You call her a small girl?
Do you know how many men she's been with? She's not a small girl.
That girl is happy about this.
Sir.
Land dispute cases are very common. Every station has them.
This is mainly due to the sharp rise in land value.
Bangalore is an IT hub and the Electronic City.
Industries are growing by the day.
Land prices are now ten times what they were ten years ago.
This is his area. He has four or five houses here.
Houses that he rented out.
Shamala and Yamuna don't own property.
They say Yamuna's mother asked him
to transfer some of his property to her daughter.
But he didn't.
That's why his family accused them of the murder.
We brought the mother and daughter in for two reasons.
They're here as suspects, but also for their own safety.
If we release them, his family will cause trouble.
-Are these the postmortem reports? -There's one injury on his forehead.
-Is this caused by a machete? -Not by a machete.
-It's two inches deep. -A machete wouldn't cut that deep.
It's more likely an axe.
There are ten people on my team.
Are these ligature marks?
-It looks like ligature marks. -They strangled him.
Each one of us has our own idea about what happened.
They haven't flung the body. The body's been laid down lovingly.
If they'd flung the body, it'd be in a heap.
Someone who loved him put him down gently like this.
There are no injuries which incurred in self-defense.
So we think he was strangled while he slept.
And then he was struck on the head with a machete.
His name was Santhosh.
It was a gift to my husband on our anniversary.
He liked it very much. He said it was an unforgettable gift.
My mother-in-law has accused me of murdering my husband.
That's why we're staying here.
I've heard from the police that he's been packed in a sack and thrown out.
I shouted, I cried.
It was a bad experience and it's unforgettable.
Now, it feels like he's just gone somewhere, not dead.
The way he looked, people thought he was an angry person.
But inside, he was a softhearted person.
The way he treated me, the way we chatted,
those things I miss.
Never mind the chairs, just come in.
Right, you all know the details of this case.
The prime suspects, as reflected in his family's statement,
are the wife and mother-in-law of the deceased.
You have them in custody. Conduct the enquiries.
Explore that angle fully. But look at other possibilities, too.
Check CCTV to find out how the body got there.
Cell phone analysis should reveal where Santhosh had been and who he met.
Also check the criminal history of the deceased.
This is a sensitive case.
It might not be what we think it is.
But we must solve it quickly.
Lohith is the kind of officer who can be assigned complete responsibility.
He gives 100%. He's also rather lucky.
Lohith has been very lucky.
Everyone works hard on important cases,
but he has had some lucky breakthroughs.
So he's both hardworking and lucky.
There's a camera there.
-Let's look. -Sir, this place is of no use to us.
There's a hotel up ahead. They'll have cameras.
Four roads lead up to the place where the body was dumped.
If we look at CCTV footage, we'll know how the body got there.
This happened after 2:00 a.m. Sometime between 2:00 and 5:00.
In between that time, we're searching the CCTV footage.
Show us your CCTV footage. Where is it?
In the office, sir.
Write that down.
-Is the camera live? -It's live, sir.
But our view is only to there.
Switch it on, fast.
I'll just check this and leave.
It's useless.
It doesn't cover the road.
We can't sit still. We're always thinking of how to solve it.
We feel the family's grief at losing their son…
It's also a creative challenge for us, thinking of the various possibilities.
It's only when we find that crucial clue
that we'll make a breakthrough and solve the case.
The spot is here. About ten meters to that side.
Where does this woman come from?
She's carrying garbage.
-Who is she? -It's not his mother.
We don't have a clear view of the place the body was found.
There's no camera there.
We're looking at the four roads that lead to that place.
We've found CCTV on three of these roads.
What's this?
Look at that auto.
-And the auto passed by. -It did.
Nothing there.
We're not even ignoring the dogs.
Hey, take this.
The wife and mother-in-law were accused,
so everyone, including our superiors, thought it would be easy to solve.
They haven't been ruled out as suspects.
But so far, we haven't found anything that proves that they are guilty.
Hello, sir. Lohith here.
We looked at Santhosh's history. He was not a lawful person, sir.
There are criminal cases against him.
Yes, sir. There was one in 2015.
He was convicted of a sexual offence against a minor.
He was arrested and went to jail for a couple of years.
Okay, sir.
Normal people who lead normal lives don't get murdered like this.
He was a shady character and someone could've had it in for him.
If he was a good person, this might not have happened.
Hello, my baby.
Come pray. Let's pray.
The time I have with my children in the morning is the best part of my day.
Our older son is special.
He's very talented. But we don't understand his language.
He lives in his own world.
Say "Daddy".
People say I'm in a powerful position at work.
But it's just my profession.
This is my life.
Come, sit.
He can be quite difficult at times.
He gets very upset if I smack him as a punishment.
The couple of times I have hit him,
I regretted it so much that I ended up crying.
Sit with me.
As the police, we solve other people's problems.
But some things are beyond our control.
I'm unable to do anything about my son's condition.
I can solve a lot, but not this.
Only God can do something.
That's the only thing I pray for before I leave home each day.
Bye, Shri, my beloved son.
Call the rest of the team.
This is the Santhosh murder case, sir.
The parents of the deceased accuse his wife and mother-in-law.
We haven't found evidence to support that.
It doesn't look like they had plans to kill him.
Our team watched all the CCTV from the spot where the body was found.
We haven't found anything relevant there, sir.
Santhosh's phone was switched off from around 3:30 to 4:00 p.m.
-On the day of the incident? -Yes, sir. On the day of the murder.
What happened to him after 4:00 is a mystery.
That's important. That's what we're investigating now.
Right. Look into that.
Small details like that can lead to a breakthrough.
Establishing these details will bring the case to its logical conclusion.
Let's not work on presumptions.
Let's see how it goes.
It's been three days since the murder.
We've cracked similar cases within 24 hours.
It bothers me that I haven't completed the task assigned to me.
I seek God's help.
I ask him why I'm unable to make headway.
I feel like we must revisit the facts with a calm mind,
and see if we missed a clue at the scene on the first day.
I've seen these gunny bags as a child.
They used them to carry vegetables and things.
We don't see them much anymore, especially in Bangalore.
Small clues often solve cases.
Sit down.
Take a look at this sack.
Take it out.
Put it there. The other side.
What kind of sack is this?
This is a government feed-sack, sir.
-What? -Government cattle-feed.
A sack for cattle-feed?
Yes. This is for feed and that's for oil-cake.
-Oil-cake and feed? -Yes, sir.
-Where can we find this sack locally? -You won't find it locally.
Someone from the villages may have brought fruit in it.
Do you only find it with people who keep cows?
Yes, only where there's cows.
It must be someone who keeps cows.
There's a guy walking.
-The guy in shorts? -What?
That looks like Anand. He has cows, sir.
-What time? -5:28 a.m., sir.
That's Anand.
At 5:27, we see Anand wearing shorts.
Anand is Santhosh's neighbor. He walked by at dawn.
I don't believe in coincidences.
Does the road go left from there?
Up, and then towards where the body was found.
First he's not carrying, then he brings something from the other side.
Let's bring Anand in.
Get in the car.
We're going to the station.
Listen, Anand.
Just spill the beans.
An offender will always try to protect themselves.
They'll try anything to make you think they're innocent.
But we'll always get to the truth.
Sometimes they need special "treatment." After that, they talk.
-Who's that? -It's me, sir.
-Why were you out at that time? -I was going to tend to the cows.
-At 5:00 in the morning? -I let them out at 5:30, sir.
-You go past empty-handed? -Yes, sir.
We ran out of milk, so I went to buy some.
You have cows, why did you buy milk?
Sir, I forgot someone's order. My wife gave him our milk.
When did you do that?
I don't remember what day it was, but I brought milk.
Don't you dare tell me you don't know, you bastard.
-Think or I'll crack your skull. -On the day of the murder, 14th.
When did you see the body?
Sir, there's a mistake on the camera. I woke up at 5:50 that day.
It's supposed to be Thursday.
Don't talk about timings, you bastard.
I really don't understand this, sir.
I beg you to believe me, I know nothing, sir.
I swear on the lives of my children.
It's impossible to solve the case without playing some mind games.
We do this during interrogation.
Sometimes, innocent people may be roughly handled.
But to deliver justice, we must immerse ourselves in it.
If I let it trouble me, it would be impossible to work in the police.
I think we can rule out Anand.
If he was involved, he wouldn't have walked by so casually to buy milk.
We don't need to suspect Anand.
I'm not pressuring you. But we shouldn't panic.
It stops our minds from working. That's what's happened to us now.
We're even dreaming about this case.
So let's begin work in the morning with fresh heads.
I'm 100% sure we can solve this.
But we've been in a hurry to finish it within 24 hours,
and that pressure led to us panicking.
The CCTV we've reviewed so far isn't sufficient.
We haven't got any leads.
If we widen the search area of the CCTV cameras,
we might see something.
That's an important point.
Let's check every camera within 200 meters from there.
Santhosh is bound to be picked up by one.
Yes, sir, that's the only way to do it now.
I'll call, sir.
Yes, do it now.
It's ringing.
Sir, hello.
We've collected some new CCTV footage.
You can see Santhosh in it.
It's definitely Santhosh.
I've sent you a video, sir.
Please have a look.
Yes, okay.
Sir, this is new footage.
Yes, you can see Santhosh walk past.
That's him, he's tall.
He goes into a house.
He doesn't come out.
Santhosh's cell phone was switched off at this point.
Okay.
The man who went in with him comes out.
Him?
He and his wife come out.
He takes Santhosh's bike away.
-He's taking his bike. -Yes, sir.
Sir, we asked our informants.
It's a man named Manju. He's an auto driver.
Sir, we're tracking Manju's phone.
It signals a location 70 km west of Bangalore, sir.
Stop the car here.
You go.
Go on.
I won't run away.
Just walk.
-Bring her to the front. -Walk in front, lady.
Go on.
Keep walking.
Hello, sir.
Mission accomplished.
Yes, sir.
He was his neighbor, sir. A friend.
So you think he and his wife did it?
Yes. It's all on the CCTV. The man and his wife did it together.
We caught her as well. They have two sons.
We left the children with their grandmother.
And we have the couple in our custody.
We're heading back now, sir.
We've been up all night.
When we find that crucial clue, we feel like, "Yes! We did it!"
It's hard to describe that feeling.
We don't accuse him immediately.
We'll show him the evidence. We say, "This is your fate."
"These were your whereabouts."
That way, we get him to reveal the truth.
Congratulations.
-What time do we see him arrive? -At 2:00 p.m., sir.
-Who's that? Is that him? -That's the accused.
Manju.
-Did he call him over? -Yes. He phoned him, sir.
That's Santhosh, sir.
That's where the sun sets on him.
-Is that the last time he's seen alive? -Yes, sir.
-The wife comes out. Is that the wife? -Yes, sir.
-The wife was a willing participant? -Yes, sir.
Go forward.
Play the part where he comes out at night.
-Is that when he brings it out? -Yes, sir.
Hold it. They're bringing it.
My God.
He does it so fast.
She's getting in with the corpse. Wow.
Here it comes.
His feet are sticking out of the auto, sir.
And the gunny bag.
Hey, come here. Move it.
How many of you went last night?
There were six of us.
Has he spoken about his motive?
Yes, sir, he's told us a little. It sounds plausible.
He says that Santhosh was a complete bastard, sir.
He secretly filmed the couple
in their bathroom five years ago,
showering naked.
He's been blackmailing them ever since.
He couldn't take the torture anymore. He's heavily in debt.
He called him under the pretense of paying the money,
and he struck him with an axe.
Come on, now.
He told us that Santhosh was on his bed watching TV.
Manju came from behind and struck him on the forehead.
Good, well done.
Your inspector said yesterday that the case was rather tough.
-Really, sir-- -He said you had no leads.
This was truly hard, sir.
The complainant seemed very sure
that his wife and her mother had killed her son.
She threw us off track, sir.
Well, charge them based on the CCTV footage.
Now the victim's family will know what really happened.
Also, innocent people such as his wife and her mother
won't be falsely charged.
We had kept the mother-daughter duo at the station.
There was a lot of pressure on us to arrest them as they were accused.
Well, my girl. You know what happened?
You're lucky this murder case came to us.
You received the gift of life.
If you value it, you can live a good life.
Anyone else in my place would have arrested them and sent them to jail.
They would have thought of the next step after.
But after four or five days, we found the real offender.
We feel proud that the case was solved at our station.
Don't go to their house. I've warned the father and brother.
I said I'd teach them a lesson they won't forget if they bother you.
Go now. Give the boy a better future.
No, no. There's no need.
Pray to God instead.
Bye, sir.
My children must be wondering where their parents went.
One is seven and the other is eleven. Both boys.
We were a happy family. The four of us were like friends.
We ate together, fed each other.
They're my world. There's nothing without them.
I don't know what I'll say to them.
My heart feels so heavy.
I won't be able to face them now.
In Rajiv Gandhi Nagar,
under the jurisdiction of Nandini Police Station,
a 31-year-old man called Santhosh
was found murdered
and stuffed in a gunnysack near his home.
The accused, Manju and his wife, Savithri, were friends of the deceased.
They say that Santhosh extorted about 300,000 rupees from them.
They said he was also demanding sexual acts from Manju's wife.
Last week, he demanded 30,000 rupees.
He threatened to spread rumors about the wife if he didn't pay.
And that he would leak the private videos.
He gave him a deadline of two days to pay the money.
The day of the murder was the deadline.
It's rare that I feel sympathy for the accused.
But the reason behind this murder is tragic.
They could've gotten justice if they'd come to the police.
But they tried to avenge the injustice alone.
And they messed it up.
Baby?
I'm home.
Hi.
Let's go out.
Let's eat first. We can go out after.
Come.
I feel sad when I think of their children.
Where are you going?
They're going to jail, so the children will be deprived of both parents.
I feel very sad about that.
Emergency services, hello?
Madam, someone's been murdered in the house opposite mine.
They're my neighbors.
There's a boy in the house.
Sir, please speak slowly.
It's a lady.
Okay.
The boy on the ground floor was screaming, "Mother, get up."
When we went in, there was blood everywhere.
Okay.
The bedroom is full of blood.
-Where is it? -Here, sir.
Oh, my God!
I've sent the crime team, sir.
They're getting information
from the neighbors.
I haven't handled a murder case before.
The whole scene,
the pool of blood, her disheveled clothes,
all suggested that she'd struggled.
I felt like she was murdered by someone who knew her.