A woman was found dead under mysterious circumstances at a homestay in this district on Monday, while her boyfriend was found lying unconscious in the same room, police said.
The deceased was identified as Sai Surbhi (25), a physiotherapist from Bengaluru.
Her boyfriend, Sanjeet Ali (26), is a BE (Mechanical) graduate from Kerala who worked as a cab driver, police said.
Police said a suspected murder was reported at the homestay near Muddenahalli village on Monday afternoon.
Investigators are probing whether Ali killed Surbhi before attempting to end his life.
Surbhi’s parents, who were opposed to their relationship, alleged that Ali had killed their daughter, police added.
“We received information from the caretaker of the homestay that a man and a woman were inside a room. When our police team rushed to the spot, the woman was found dead, and the man was lying unconscious. He was shifted to a hospital for treatment,” Chikkaballapur Superintendent of Police Kushal Chouksey said.
A rope, tablets and alcohol bottles were recovered from the spot, he said.
“Preliminary inquiry has revealed that the two were in a relationship and had eloped to Kannur in Kerala last year. They later returned and stated that they had left voluntarily,” he said.
Referring to Surbhi’s mother’s statement, the officer said she had come to volunteer at a hospital in Chikkaballapur about a week ago.
“Homestay records indicate that Ali checked in on Saturday, while the caretaker is unaware of when Surbhi joined him,” he said.
The SP said it was suspected that Ali had also consumed tablets and was currently unconscious. His statement would be recorded after he regained consciousness.
A murder case is being registered at the Nandi police station, police said, adding that further investigation was under way.
Police said all angles were being probed and that they were awaiting the forensic and postmortem reports before reaching any conclusions.
They are waiting for Ali to recover before questioning him to ascertain the sequence of events, police added.
