BANGALORE: The Bangalore City Police on Tuesday traced the car of Adeep Lahari, the software professional who was found murdered on Garudacharpalya tank bed last week.

It was found abandoned in a bylane near Gayathri temple in Yeshwanthapur by the night beat police in the early hours of Tuesday. Adeep's spectacles, wristwatch and identity card were found in the car.

The frame of the spectacles had been dented, indicating that he had a scuffle with the assailants, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) P. Muniswamy told The Hindu on Tuesday.

A plaster roll was also found in the vehicle. After putting the tape on Adeep's mouth, the culprits had left the roll in the car. The software professional's gold ring, laptop and wallet containing credit cards were still missing, Mr. Muniswamy said.

A team from the Forensic Science Laboratory, along with fingerprint experts, examined the car.

"We are trying to find some clues on the basis of the finger prints, tyre marks and the articles found in the car," Commissioner of Police Neelam Achuta Rao said.

Mr. Muniswamy said the assailants had apparently abandoned the car in Yeshwanthpur in the early hours of Friday soon after killing Adeep and dumping his body. Dust had gathered on the car's windscreen and windows which were misty.

This suggested that the car had been lying there since Friday morning, he said. Although the police are yet to ascertain the motive behind the killing, the two senior officers said it was murder for gain. "The fact that the killers have made away with Adeep's gold ring, wallet and laptop indicate that it was a murder for gain," Mr. Muniswamy said.

`Murder for gain'

Mr. Rao said that although the police were probing the murder from different angles, the investigation had indicated that Adeep had been murdered for gain.

"However, I do not rule out other motives," he said.

Adeep's family members, however, have told the police that he could have been killed because of professional jealousy.

Adeep (32), a native of Kolkata, was working as a systems analyst in a software company here. Six months ago, the company had deputed him to their client's firm in Whitefield.

His wife, Aparna, is a software engineer. The couple was to fly for Germany on December 25 on a professional assignment. They were residing in Rustum Bagh on Airport Road.

Around 10 p.m. on December 21, Adeep called up his wife and told her that he would be returning home from work in a few minutes. Since he did not come home till midnight, Aparna lodged a complaint with the police early the next day. Around 6 a.m., passers-by noticed Lahari's body on the tank bed and informed the police.

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