Man arrested for strangling his gay partner to death

Hameed Ashraf | NT
Bengaluru:

A homosexual man has been arrested by Bengaluru police on charges of strangulating his male partner to death in a hotel room near Marathahalli, police said on Friday. The accused, who has been identified as Tamilvannan, hailing from Chennai, used to work as a technical associate at a hospital in Devarabisanahalli, police said.

On July 7, the jurisdictional police were alerted about a person found dead inside one of the rooms of Relax Lodge near Marathahalli. Visiting the spot, the police found that the person had been strangled. They identified the deceased as Rajagopal, 24, who is also from Chennai.

A preliminary investigation by the police revealed that Rajagopal and Tamilvannan were in a relationship after their wives had divorced them in 2020. It was also revealed that the two often used to book different hotel rooms to spend private moments with each other.The hotel staff in Marathahalli claimed that the duo had booked a room on July 4 for two days. Rajagopal's body was found by one of the hotel staff who went to the room to renew the booking on July 7 morning.

A case of suspicious death had been taken up by the police, who had initiated a search for Tamilvannan. Speaking to News Trail, the police said that Rajagopal was disappointed with Tamilvannan for shifting to Bengaluru a few months back without informing him.

In May, Rajagopal came to Bengaluru, and both of them stayed together. However, the relationship turned sour following a money-related dispute. "On July 4, both of them booked a room. However, the accused strangled his partner and fled the hotel. The murder came to light when the hotel staff went to renew their booking," police said. The police traced the mobile phone number belonging to the accused and nabbed him from his hometown, the police added.