Gokul MG, who was on Monday arrested on charges of murdering his wife and making hoax bomb threat calls to Delhi and Bengaluru airports in the wee hours of Saturday, is a Bengaluru-based IT professional and has worked with some reputed companies.
During interrogation, 33-year-old Gokul allegedly confessed to killing his wife two months ago and making phone calls to both Delhi and Bengaluru airports warning about bombs on international flights. He further confessed to using the SIM card registered in the name of his neighbour Saju Jose.
Gokul allegedly plotted both the murder and hoax bomb calls to get Jose out of his way as he wanted to marry the latter's wife, who happens to be his ex-girlfriend.
"He did all this only to marry Jose's wife who was his batchmate in college," The Indian Express quoted Bengaluru police commissioner NS Megharikh as saying.
Wife's murder
Gokul had married Anuradha, who was from Ranchi, in 2009. However, he fell in love with Jose's wife and in order to marry her, he first allegedly killed his wife and then decided to frame Jose as a terrorist so that he could marry Jose's wife.
Gokul allegedly killed his wife Anuradha on 27 June at his residence at Fernhill Gardens in HSR Layout in Bengaluru by striking her head with a Ganesh idol, Bangalore Mirror reported.
He later described the incident as suicide, claiming that Anuradha was high on alcohol when she killed herself. However, he confessed to killing her when the Bengaluru police interrogated him in the hoax bomb threat call case.
Bomb threat and plot against Jose
Even before he made the hoax calls, Gokul had tried to get Jose arrested by projecting him as having links with the Isis, by planting fake evidences.
Gokul allegedly created a fake Facebook profile in Jose's name and added Isis among his followers to attract the attention of the Cyber Cell Police, IBN Live reported.
"Gokul had gone to such an extent that he even planted a Muslim skull cap and a knife in Jose's house to portray him as a supporter of radical Islam,'' The Indian Express quoted its sources as saying.
However, when Gokul's plan to portray Jose as an Isis supporter failed, he made hoax calls to Delhi and Bengaluru international airports at around 1:30 am on 5 September.
He also sent WhatsApp messages to the terminal manager at Bengaluru airport, saying that three flights — Lufthansa LH-755, Saudi Arabian Airlines SV-5643 and Air France AF-191 — will be blown up by the Islamic State. He sent similar messages to Delhi airport.
"Islamic state wins... get ready to see fireworks above the sea today," one of the messages read.
"Hoax caller Gokul had an affair with his friend Saju Joseph's wife. He made a call and sent WhatsApp messages from a mobile obtained in her husband's name. The delay and diversion of aircrafts caused a loss of over One million dollars to the airlines and airports. It can even harm the reputation of India. It is a serious matter. Gokul is from Kerala, but a resident of Bengaluru," Megharikh said.
Who is Gokul?
A native of Thrissur, Gokul, is the son of retired school teachers. His mother Shobana Kumari and father Gopakumar live in Thrissur's Muthuvara village.
He studied at Ramakrishna Mission School and went to University of Calicut for doing his graduation in electronics. He then joined the Asia Pacific Institute of Management to study PGDBM, Marketing & International Business.
He worked with various reputed companies, including Microsoft, Idea Cellular and Tata Teleservices. He was working with Indus Towers in Bengaluru, apparently since March this year.
He has a three-year-old daughter with Anuradha.