Bengaluru triple murder: Police to conduct brain mapping on accused Kenneth
The Bengaluru police are undertaking a series of scientific tests on Kenneth, the 25-year-old live-in partner of Shwetha Somasundar, to determine the motive behind the June 22 triple murder in which Shwetha’s parents and younger sister were killed.
The K R Puram police on Friday obtained Kenneth’s custody for an additional nine days, citing the need to conduct brain mapping and narcoanalysis tests after completing polygraph tests while he was in police custody from July 3 to July 10. A magistrate’s court in Bengaluru granted custody after Kenneth consented to the additional tests.
Kenneth and Shwetha are the first and second accused in the case. They were arrested for the murder of Shwetha’s parents, Muthulakshmi S, 48, and Somasundar, 54, and her sister Supriya, 20, at an apartment in K R Puram.
Shwetha was sent to judicial custody on Thursday after the police informed the court that it had concluded its probe into her alleged role. In court, Shwetha, a former employee of a social media news platform, told the magistrate she wanted to become an approver and confess to the crime. “She has begun to feel guilt,” a police source said.
Despite Shwetha’s claims of being central to the murders, investigators are still examining the exact motive for Kenneth’s participation. “This is a new age kind of murder. There is no typical strong motive of gain, lust, enmity, fit of rage. It has come from a sense of frustration and deep resentment. They planned the killing without understanding the consequences,” a police source said.
Kenneth, who worked in the tech sector and met Shwetha in college, had no familial ties or direct resentment against her family, sources said.
The scientific tests aim to uncover the underlying motive. Police stated the murder was premeditated and jointly planned. One angle being investigated is a financial motive: Shwetha borrowed over Rs 30 lakh to allegedly finance Kenneth’s lifestyle and defaulted, drawing criticism from her mother, whose address was used for the loan. However, investigators find this angle alone insufficient.
Police said Shwetha and Kenneth were not in a romantic relationship but were “good friends” in a platonic relationship, common among youth.
Evidence of premeditation includes the purchase of a bean bag and courier boxes before the crime, possibly to dispose of bodies. Kenneth allegedly searched online for methods of committing murder, though not directly. The weapon was a kitchen knife already in the house, used to inflict multiple stab wounds when Shwetha’s family visited on June 22.
The police traced the pair to Puducherry after the murder.
