Bengaluru/Mandya: What initially appeared to be a mysterious murder with few clues was cracked after a police dog named Simbha helped investigators unravel the killing of a young carpenter at KRS bus stand in Srirangapatna.Rakesh, a man in his mid-20s from KR Pet, was found bludgeoned to death on June 6. His motorcycle was discovered abandoned a short distance from the bus stand. Investigators first suspected an honour killing or act of revenge. Call records showed Rakesh had been speaking to his girlfriend for more than an hour until shortly before his death, prompting police to suspect her relatives, who allegedly opposed the relationship.However, Simbha’s analysis of the crime scene changed the course of the investigation.Sniffing out the truthAccompanied by scene-of-crime officers, Simbha sniffed Rakesh’s body before heading to the victim’s motorcycle. After repeatedly barking near the bike, the dog followed a scent trail along the main road, pausing near a few shops before stopping.“Initially, it was suspected that Rakesh was killed by his girlfriend’s relatives because they opposed the affair,” Mandya superintendent of police Shobha Rani VJ told TOI. “But Simbha’s repeated barks around Rakesh’s bike and the nearby shops suggested the killer was someone else. Further investigation revealed that Rakesh was with his assistant, Ambarish, on the evening of June 6.”As officers reconstructed Rakesh’s final movements, they learnt he had travelled to Mysuru that day for carpentry work with Ambarish, who disappeared soon after the murder.Traced near borderPolice launched a search and traced Ambarish near Akkihebbal village, close to KR Pet, while he was aboard a bus headed for Tamil Nadu. When he was brought to KRS police station, Simbha immediately barked at him, reinforcing the canine’s earlier findings. Officers also noticed bloodstains on Ambarish’s trousers and slippers. FSL tests later confirmed the blood matched Rakesh’s.During interrogation, Ambarish allegedly confessed to the murder. Investigators said the two men had been drinking together in Mysuru on June 6. As Rakesh remained engrossed in a phone call with his girlfriend, Ambarish repeatedly asked him to get dinner. When Rakesh allegedly refused to give him money for food, an argument escalated and Ambarish fatally bludgeoned him.After the murder, Ambarish allegedly walked to nearby shops to buy snacks, unknowingly leaving behind the scent trail that Simbha later followed, before boarding a bus to KR Pet. “He was so intoxicated that even two days after the incident, he had not changed his clothes,” an investigating officer said.
