Hoax bomb threats were not the first con Bengaluru techie pulled

As more lurid details emerged in the hoax phone call drama that delayed seven international flights, police on Tuesday said accused techie Gokul Macher was hell bent on marrying his friend’s wife, whom he loved during college days, and meticulously planned his moves till his luck ran out.

Police said they were also probing Gokul’s relationship with his friend’s wife.

Gokul, 37, had shifted from New Delhi to Bengalauru in pursuit of his goal of marrying his friend’s wife after locating them through social media, police said.

He had even written letters to the couple under the name of archbishop suggesting that they opt for a divorce, police said.

Gokul, who also allegedly confessed he had murdered his wife in July and made it appear like an accidental death, settled for the hoax call route after his earlier efforts to drive a wedge between his friend and his wife fell flat.

“The investigation is open ... we are looking into all aspects of the case. We are also not ruling out relationship between Gokul’s friend’s wife and him,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Chandra Shekhar said.

Police were probing how Gokul could gain access to identity papers of his friend to obtain a SIM card and use it to send threat messages to KempegowdaInternationalAirport and Delhi international airport in a bid to land him in trouble, he said.

They were also inquiring into whether an insider in the friend’s house could have helped Gokul get access to the ID papers.

Gokul and his friend’s wife were classmate till 2007. He wanted to marry her but it did not materialise, police said. Gokul shifted to New Delhi and fell in love and married Anuradha in 2009, but soon their relationship developed breaches as Gokul suspected she had an extra-marital affair, the police said.

He relocated himself along with his wife to Bengalurur on the pretext of ending the alleged extra-marital affair and lived in the same flat where his friend resided after tracing them through social media, police said.

In order to win over the married woman, Gokul sketched a plot by creating differences between the couple by shooting off a letter to his friend in the name of the Bengaluru archbishop, claiming his wife was not happy with him and wanted a divorce, they said.

Gokul wrote another letter to the friend’s wife as the archbishop advising her to divorce her husband but these two ideas did not click.

Then he hit upon the plot of making hoax phone calls to Delhi and Bengaluru airports to get his friend into trouble, Shekhar said.

Gokul had sent WhatsApp messages on September 5 after procuring a SIM based on the identity of his friend so that police would initiate a probe that would defame him and help him to get closer to his wife, Shekhar said.

During questioning, Gokul also confessed that he had murdered his wife in July, police said. He had bought liquor which his wife had consumed and after a verbal argument regarding shifting back to Delhi, he pushed and assaulted her with a blunt weapon causing her death, according to police.

KIA terminal manager on duty had received messages on Whatsapp from a local mobile number, threatening to blast three flights with specific details besides the airport cargo section.

Before hatching these plots to defame his friend, police found that Gokul had murdered his wife, Shekhar said.

Throwing more light on Gokul’s plot to eliminate his wife, police said he informed his father-in-law about her alleged extra-marital affair. To prove his point, he created a fake email ID in the name of one Baba, knowing well his wife was spiritually inclined.

Subsequently, Gokul created yet another email address, posing as spiritual counsellor Aasha and sent a set of instructions, asking his wife to consume liquor, which she complied with, police said.

Gokul then took advantage of her inebriated condition, murdered her and made it appear an accidental death, police said.