BELAGAVI: The high-profile murder case of a realtor and financier Santosh Padmannavar of Belagavi is turning out to be a big conspiracy with each passing day. After Santosh’s daughter Sanjana got an FIR registered against her mother for her father’s murder, the police on Thursday arrested Santosh’s wife and two more accused, to whom she had given allegedly a contract to kill her husband.

The accused are identified as Uma Santosh Padmannavar (41), wife of the deceased, Shobhit Gowda (31) and Pawan (35). Police arrested them from Bengaluru, and after a medical test, they were taken to the crime scene for evidence and later, sent to 14 days judicial custody.

According to sources, the prime accused, Uma had befriended Shobhit Gowda via Telegram and shared her problems of harassment meted out by her husband. When Shobhit and Pawan had come to Belagavi to meet her recently, she planned her husband’s murder and promised to give them money if they helped her kill Santosh. On October 9, she called Shobhit and said that she had prepared everything and had fed Santosh sleeping pills. She asked Shobhit and Pawan to come over, and with their help, suffocated Santosh with a pillow.

Wife alleges affairs and abuse.

During the police investigation, many secrets behind the murder were revealed. Santosh, who was wealthy, had installed about 17 CCTV cameras inside and outside his house in Mahantesh Nagar for safety. The CCTV footage reveals a different character of the deceased. During interrogation, Uma confessed that Santosh had many extramarital affairs, and would regularly bring different women home.

He would even find one excuse or another to torture Uma for years. Fed up by the harassment, Uma plotted her husband’s murder, so that it would look like a cardiac arrest. She went on to complete his last rites as well. However, the truth came to light when her daughter Sanjana, who lived in Bengaluru, wanted to see the CCTV footage, which was later found to be deleted.

Belagavi Police Commissioner Iada Martin Marbnyang said, “We already have three accused in this case. Santosh’s wife, the prime accused, in her confession revealed that she murdered her husband to get rid of his harassment. Further investigation is on,” he said.