Bengaluru: A 45-year-old Government servant working with the Mines and Geology Department as its Deputy Director was found murdered at her residence in South Bengaluru on Sunday. She was allegedly strangled to death and her throat was slit on Saturday night.

The deceased has been identified as K.S. Prathima, a resident of Doddakallasandra in Subramanyapura Police limits.

Police today said that her former car driver has been arrested. Jurisdictional Subramanyapura Police, who launched a quick probe, made three arrests based on the suspicion and one of them is former driver Kiran, who turned out to be the alleged killer, Police said. The Police are preparing to produce him before the Court and take him into custody for further questioning.

 “One suspect has been taken into custody in connection with the murder case. He was working as a driver and he was removed from the work, probably seven to 10 days earlier,” Bengaluru Police Commissioner B. Dayanand said.

Police said that Kiran was allegedly leaking critical information and movements of the officials. Deceased Prathima had questioned and slammed him, but Kiran did not mend ways and continued to leak information, following which he was sacked.

The accused nursed a grudge against Prathima and decided to kill her. He knew that Prathima lived alone and on Saturday night, he managed to sneak inside her house and strangled her to death besides slitting her throat.

Prathima’s husband was in Thirthahalli in Shivamogga district when the incident took place. A Police officer said that an initial probe revealed Prathima was in her office till 6 pm on Saturday and returned home by 8 pm. Her car driver confirmed that he had dropped her off.

The murder is believed to have taken place between 8 pm (Saturday) and 8 am (Sunday), Police sources said.

Prathima’s brother Pratheesh had called her on Saturday night, but the call was not answered. In the morning when the call was not answered again, he came to the house. As she did not answer the bell, Pratheesh peeped through the window and noticed her body. He immediately alerted the jurisdictional Police.

The Police, after gathering the preliminary information, found that Kiran had disappeared and his phone was switched off. The Police, who managed to gather information, nabbed him while he was moving towards Chamarajanagar district.