Shivamogga police have arrested five of a family, including a wife and her sons in connection with the murder of a man from Sagar, which until now seemed more like a suicide.

The body of Vinod (45), a native of Aachapura village, Sagar taluk, was found burnt inside a car inthe forest region at Hunasekoppa village attached to Mitlugodu gram panchayat limits on September 28. While police initially, thought it was a suicide, they later initiated an investigation based on the registration number of the vehicle. To their surprise, they found out that it was his wife Beenu (42), sons Vivek (21), Vishnu (19), his brother Sanjay (36) and nephew Ashok (23) who plotted the murder and executed without leaving behind any evidence.

Police stated that the accused had taken cues from films and had planned to murder Vinod — who was running a herbal life business — over an extramarital affair with a woman from Hosanagar taluk. He used to give money to the woman and ignored his family members. He had even planned to give the Rs 51 lakh he obtained from selling an acre's worth of land.

Enraged by this, the family members planned to murder him on September 25. They purchased a can of petrol at Aanandpur in Sagar taluk and killed Vinod by hitting his head with an iron rod. They later kept his body in a car, drove the vehicle towards a forest area in Hunasekatte at 11 pm and torched the car by pouring petrol on it.

They had left their mobile phones at home to ensure that police do not get any evidence.

Upon interrogating them separately, all five accused offered contradictory statements, raising suspicion among the cops. Following this, the accused eventually admitted to committng the crime. The murder case was cracked by the Thirthahalli police team in three days.

Check out latest DH videos here