In a breakthrough in the case of the death of a 34-year-old software engineer who was found dead at her flat in Ramamurthy Nagar on January 3 in a purported fire accident, police have arrested her neighbour for killing her.
He allegedly broke into her flat when she was alone, tried to force himself on her and when she resisted, he smothered her and later set the flat on fire to make it look like a fire accident. The accused has been identified as Karnal Kurai, 18, a native of Virajpet town in Kodagu district. He was the neighbour of the deceased and was living with his single mother.
The victim, Sharmila D.K., hailing from Dakshina Kannada district, was residing in a two-bedroom apartment at Sankalpa Nilaya, Subramanya Layout. She was living alone at the apartment at the time of the incident.
Purported fire accident
A fire was reported at Sharmila’s apartment on January 3 between 10.15 p.m. and 10.45 p.m. Firefighters rushed to the spot, doused the fire, and found Sharmila’s charred body inside the house.
Initially, investigators suspected a short circuit as the cause of the fire, as the blaze appeared to have originated in the bedroom of Sharmila’s roommate, who had been in her hometown in Assam since November 14, 2025.
Suspicion
However, suspicion arose after one of Sharmila’s friends, in his statement to the police, expressed doubts over the circumstances of her death. Based on this, the Ramamurthy Nagar police registered a case and sent the body for post-mortem examination.
“The scene of crime officers and forensic experts found no evidence to support the short-circuit theory. The evidence clearly pointed towards arson. Further, the autopsy revealed that the woman had died due to suffocation,” a senior police officer said.
Based on digital evidence, the police zeroed in on the neighbour boy.
Investigations revealed that Kurai allegedly entered Sharmila’s apartment at around 9 p.m. by opening a sliding window. He then approached her and allegedly demanded that she “cooperate sexually”. When Sharmila resisted, the accused allegedly held her mouth and nose tightly, causing her to lose consciousness. During the struggle, she sustained bleeding injuries, the police said.
Believing her to be dead, the accused allegedly went into the roommate’s vacant bedroom, collected clothes and other inflammatory materials, and set them on fire to destroy evidence. He then fled the scene, taking Sharmila’s mobile phone with him.
The accused was arrested from his house on January 10. He was produced before a court and remanded to three days of police custody.
He has been booked under Sections 103(1) (punishment for murder), 64(2) (punishment for rape), 66 (punishment for causing death or resulting in persistent vegetative state of victim), and 238 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information to screen offender) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
Further investigation is under way, the police said.
Published – January 11, 2026 09:38 pm IST
