BANGALORE: The city police have achieved a major breakthrough in the sensational murder of Narasamma (72), wife of a retired police officer, who was strangled at her house in Seshadripuram more than five years ago.

Investigation has reportedly revealed that a relative of the victim had strangled her and made away with her gold ornaments: a pair of bangles, mangalasutra, earrings and a nose stud.

The police have now traced the alleged culprit. He is expected to be arrested in a day or two, sources in the city police told The Hindu on Saturday.

This incident was one among the several unsolved murders of senior citizens in the city.

The sources said that a few days before the murder, Narasamma had been to a wedding where the relative had seen her wearing a lot of gold and plotted to kill her. He got a chance when on November 5, 2001, Narasamma had him to come to her house on 1st Cross, Nehrunagar, to repair a stove. She was alone at home on that day and the man strangled her with a sari, took her jewellery and fled the city the same day.

Around 4.30 p.m. a neighbour found her body in the kitchen. When the then Commissioner of Police H.T. Sangliana visited the murder scene, residents of the area had heckled him. They said that murders were on the rise in the locality and criticised the police for their inefficiency. A few months before Narasamma's murder, Dinesh Banasali, a chartered accountancy student, was shot dead in front of his Nehrunagar residence.

Narasamma's murder was the first in the city after Mr. Sangliana took over as city police chief.

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