BENGALURU: What was first believed to be a tragic death in a house fire has now been uncovered as a brutal murder.A second-year pre-university student has been arrested for the killing of a 34-year-old software engineer in east Bengaluru earlier this month.

Police said the accused allegedly smothered the woman after she resisted his advances and then set fire to her flat in a calculated attempt to erase evidence.The victim, Sharmila Kushalappa, a native of Mangaluru, worked with Accenture and lived alone in a rented flat in Subramanya Layout, Ramamurthynagar. On the night of Jan 3, she was found unconscious inside her locked two-bedroom apartment after a fire broke out.

She was later declared dead, with initial suspicion pointing to smoke inhalation — a theory that investigators would soon prove wrong. The accused, Karnal Kurai K, a IInd-year PU student at a private college and from Arasunagar in Virajpet town of Kodagu district, lived with his mother in the same building, next door to Sharmila's flat on the second floor. He has been arrested and remanded to three days of police custody.

According to police, the case took a decisive turn after forensic and postmortem findings contradicted the initial assumption that Sharmila had died due to smoke inhalation. Ramamurthynagar police had received a complaint from Sharmila's friend, K Rohit, who suspected foul play after learning of her death.On the night of the incident, at 10.30pm, the building owner alerted the fire department after noticing smoke coming from Sharmila's flat.

Fire personnel broke open the locked door and doused the flames. Sharmila was found lying motionless near the kitchen and was rushed to hospital, where doctors declared her brought dead.Investigators said injuries on her hands and visible signs of a struggle at the scene raised doubts. During autopsy, doctors found that the injuries were inflicted prior to the fire and were inconsistent with accidental burns. Medical opinion indicated that Sharmila had been smothered just before she lost consciousness.Based on this, police narrowed their probe and detained Karnal for questioning. He reportedly confessed to the crime. A police officer said Karnal entered Sharmila's flat through a sliding window at 9pm. When confronted, he expressed his desire towards her, which she resisted, shouting at him to leave. Enraged by the rejection, he allegedly held her mouth and nose shut, causing her to lose consciousness.Police said bloodstains from her mouth and nose were found on her clothes. To destroy this evidence, the accused allegedly removed the clothes and set them on fire before escaping through the same window. The fire later spread to other parts of the flat.