- By Shubham Bajpai
- Thu, 04 Dec 2025 09:37 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
The dreams of building a house ended for an engineer in Bengaluru after he died by suicide over alleged harassment by a local family and the officials of BBMP, now Greater Bengaluru Authority.
The 45-year-old techie, identified as Murali Govindaraju, was a resident of Brookbong Layout in Whitefield. He was working with an IT firm and is survived by two minor girls. He was found dead at his under-construction house at Nallurahalli on Wednesday morning.
The police have arrested a couple, Shashi Nambiar and his wife, Usha, on charges of abetment to suicide. Their son, Varun, has been absconding, and the hunt for him was on. The couple was sent to 14-day judicial custody after they were produced before a magistrate.
Govindaraju left behind a 10-page suicide note narrating the ordeal, accusing Nambiars and GBA officials of harassment over the construction of his house at Nallurahalli. In his note, Govindaraju alleged that on the pretext of violation of construction rules, the Nambiar family and a few GBA officials harassed and tortured him. They demanded Rs 20 lakh to settle the matter.
A criminal complaint was filed by the victim's mother, Lakshmi Govindaraju, at Whitefield Police Station against Nambiars, accusing them of trying to extort Rs 20 lakh from her son, torturing him for refusing. She also accused them of abetting his suicide.
Lakshmi also alleged that Nambiars encouraged GBA officials to harass her son. The land in Nallurahalli was purchased by Murali from a close relative in 2018. But when he started construction of a house, Nambiars started harassing him. They allegedly started demanding Rs 20 lakh.
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As Murali refused to give money, Usha Nambiar approached the BBMP officials, who visited the construction site and harassed Murali. Wednesday was the deadline to pay Rs 20 lakh.
At around 6 AM, he left his Brrokbong Layout house for the construction site and hanged himself.
According to a report by The Times of India, the investigators have so far found that Usha did approach BBMP, alleging violation of the approved plan by Murali.
The BBMP inspected the site and issued a notice to the victim. The friction between Murali and Nambiars started as early as 2018, when the former purchased the 2,400 sq ft plot.
The police also added that for one reason or the other, Nambiars made him run to the BBMP, the local court, and the police and had demanded Rs 20 lakh from him.
The report also suggests that several locals have accused Nambiars of extorting money by filing cases against them in GBA.
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