Killers will be traced by Thursday: Police

The police team looking into the attack on late KAS officer SP Mahanthesh detained a woman on Monday, with highly placed sources saying important evidence was recovered from her.

Official sources said the woman was detained on Monday afternoon and questioned. They said that the police had collected some important evidence from her and were confirming their veracity. Police officers said the woman was thoroughly interrogated, but it “appeared” that she was not involved in the murder.

Two men were also interrogated along with her, but their role in the attack on Mahanthesh has not yet been confirmed.

Both sources in the government and the police refused to divulge details about the woman’s identity, except that she is from Karnataka.

Home minister R Ashoka said the police are on the lookout for two suspects reportedly hiding in a neighbouring state. He said they were not more than 300 km away from Bangalore. When asked whether Mahanthesh was killed over work-related reasons or personal ones, the minister said the case was being investigated from a couple of angles.

He added that the police had not ruled out the possibility that whistle-blowing might have landed the late officer in trouble. He said Mahanthesh had done some serious work regarding house-society scams.

A senior police officer said that Mahanthesh had filed four reports on different scams, but the government had taken no action on them. So, the officer said, chances were less that he was killed to settle personal scores.

ACP (law and order) T Suneel Kumar said the police were working on all possible angles. Ashoka, on the other hand, said the police were exploring if Mahanthesh was killed because of some personal reason. He added that it was too early to come to a conclusion.

All the senior police officials DNA spoke to said that the motive behind the KAS officer’s murder would become clear only by Thursday.

Four teams under joint commissioner of police Pranab Mohanty worked till 3 am regarding the case and resumed the investigation at 7 am.

Police officials said they had been interrogating a few people and collected crucial information. They expressed hope that the case would be solved soon.