Bengaluru: The Sampangi Rama Nagar police have arrested hotelier Chandrakanth S. Kondali, 35, for allegedly murdering his wife Akshatha, a software engineer, in their apartment at Sahakara Nagar in Hebbal.

The police said the accused gave the keys of his car to a friend with instructions to drive to the forest near Shoolagiri in Tamil Nadu to dispose the body by setting it on fire.

Kondali, who owns a restaurant in S.R. Nagar, convinced his mother-in-law to file a missing person’s report after concocting a story that Akshatha had borrowed Rs. 50,000 from him to go on a holiday. To cover his tracks and send the police on a wild goose chase, he allegedly instructed the friend, Rajvinder Singh, to travel across the country with Akshatha’s phone.

According to the police, Chandrakanth and Akshatha got married 10 years ago. The couple has a five-year-old child.

A little over a week ago, the Tamil Nadu police found the remains of the body. Family identified it as Akshatha’s from remnants of the clothing. The police arrested Chandrakanth and Singh for murder and destruction of evidence.