Little did 35-year-old Bangalore techie Sohan Haldar (image below) realize the dangers of putting an ad about selling his KTM Duke 390 bike online. He put up the post announcing sale on ‘Second to None’ Facebook page. He gave his mobile number and address which led the killer directly to his address.
A habitual offender, identified as Karthik M Doulath, 30, from Rajajinagar has been identified as the killer. Doulath allegedly visited Haldar at his residence, befriended him, invited himself to spend the night over at his flat and later laced his drink with potassium cyanide and killed him.
Haldar’s advertisement for the sale of his Duke 390 announced price at INR 1,45,000. It stated that the bike was in immaculate condition and did not require any work on it. It had a valid insurance till October 2016 and had only completed 12,800 kms.
Karthik was attracted to this bike but having no money to pay for it, befriended the owner, took the bike on a test run, stayed at his house on Tuesday night and left the next morning on the pretext of withdrawing the money from the ATM.
Wednesday night saw Haldar dead after sharing a drink with Daulath. Investigations reveal that Doulath purchased potassium cyanide and mixed it in Haldar’s drink. When the victim started frothing from the mouth and vomiting, Daulath brought a glass of water with more cyanide mixed, thus killing him instantly.
The accused then covered his face with a sheet, tied his hands and legs and shut the room door. He escaped with his mobile phone, ATM cards, some cash and the KTM Duke 390 parked in the basement.
Daulath (image above) has been identified on the basis of CCTV footage and information received from Haldar’s Call Detail Records. The Police have arrested him and he has confessed to have killed Haldar for the sake of the bike while all stolen items have also been recovered.
