Businessman held for 'stalking, harassing' Kannada film actress
Bengaluru, Nov 15 (PTI): A businessman was arrested on Saturday for allegedly stalking, intimidating and harassing a Kannada film actress, police said.
The accused was identified as Aravind Venkatesh Reddy.
In her complaint, the 36-year-old actress stated that she had known Reddy since 2021 and first met him at an event in Sri Lanka in 2022. He maintained a cordial relationship with her for a few months and befriended her.
According to the complaint, they were initially in a live-in relationship. He was affectionate and caring at first, but his behaviour soon turned obsessive and threatening. The accused would often come home drunk, due to which she distanced herself from him.
Despite her attempts to stay away, the accused allegedly followed her everywhere, tracked her location, and on Instagram, morphed her photographs and posted them to insult her, the complaint said.
He also allegedly sent some men to the complainant’s parental home to create trouble. He threatened to kill her younger brother and harassed her, insisting that she continue the relationship with him, she claimed.
In April 2024, distressed by alleged mental and physical harassment, the actress attempted suicide at her residence here after Reddy allegedly threatened to forcibly marry her, the FIR stated.
The harassment continued, including demands for Rs one crore, attempts to defame her before her family, and persistent tracking, it added.
Based on the allegations stated in the complaint, a case was registered at Rajarajeshwarinagar police station on October 17 under Sections 78(2) (stalking), 79 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 351(2) (criminal intimidation) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, a senior police officer said.
The case was later transferred to Govindarajanagar police station and, based on the investigation, the accused was arrested today, he said.
The mobile phone allegedly used by him to commit the offence has also been seized, police said, adding that further investigation is underway.
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Woman software employee murdered by ex-husband in Hyderabad
Hyderabad (PTI): A 29-year-old woman software employee was allegedly killed by her former husband at her house here on Wednesday, police said.
The victim's husband in a complaint stated that his wife was three months pregnant. However, police said it was not confirmed so far as the post-mortem report is awaited.
The accused, in his 30s, who worked as a software employee in Canada earlier, barged into the victim's residence and after noticing her in a room locked it from inside and allegedly stabbed her multiple times on her head with a knife resulting in her instant death.
The woman's mother-in-law was in the verandah of the house at the time of the incident.
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After being informed by her family members and neighbours, police reached the spot and found that the accused had poured petrol in the room, which he brought with him in a can, and had locked himself in the washroom.
He threatened to set off fire in the room with a lighter he was carrying and after being convinced by the police officials he came out of the washroom and was taken into custody, a police official said.
The couple got married in 2022 and mutually divorced in 2024. She had a second marriage in April 2025, police said.
Based on preliminary investigation, police said the accused bore grudge against his ex-wife as she filed domestic violence case against him.
Police said after their marriage in India, the accused went to Canada, and the deceased later joined him there.
"Some differences arose between the couple and after staying with him for five days she later returned to India and subsequently filed domestic violence case against him in Maharashtra," they said.
The accused came to India from Canada in March 2025 following the death of his mother, a police official said.
A Look-out Circular was issued against him because of the case and his passport was suspended and he was unable to go back to Canada since then and was presently residing in his native place in Peddapalli district of Telangana, without any work.
The accused felt that he and his family faced mental suffering due to the case. He also felt that his mother's death was due to the mental agony caused by the estranged wife, police said.
The accused developed a grudge against her and decided to eliminate her, police said. He managed to locate her residential address through her social media account and came to Hyderabad two months ago and stayed in a hostel.
He also "recceed" the victim’s apartment recently.
As per his plan, he came to the apartment on Wednesday with a bag containing two knives, a drilling machine, a can containing five-liter petrol among other items.
CCTV footage broadcast by local TV channels showed the man carrying a bag and walking in the corridor of the apartment.
