In a chilling revelation in the Bengaluru triple murder investigation, the police have discovered that a 25-year-old engineer, Kenneth, repeatedly consulted a popular search engine’s artificial intelligence (AI) tool to plan the execution and cover-up of his live-in partner’s family.
Kenneth and his partner, Shwetha Somasundar, 25, were arrested by the K R Puram police for the brutal murders of Shwetha’s mother Muthulakshmi S, 48, father Somasundar, 54, and younger sister Supriya. 20. The killings took place on the evening of June 22 at the K R Puram apartment complex where the couple lived together.
According to police sources familiar with the probe, the AI tool acted as a roadmap over six months of meticulous planning, leading investigators to consider it an “accomplice” in the crime. The investigation has also spotlighted the dark side of severe social isolation among tech-immersed youth who lack real-world support systems.
Repurposing a cloud kitchen furnace
As per police sources, Kenneth confessed during the interrogation that the idea of the murder stemmed from a trivial grievance.
“He was planning on starting a cloud kitchen and built an iron furnace for this purpose. When the murder thought entered his head, he consulted the AI tool, which indicated the merits and demerits of incinerating bodies before disposal. He planned to repurpose that furnace to burn the bodies after the murders,” a police source said.
The police noted that the lack of human interaction facilitated the crime. “He consulted the AI tool all along the course of planning the murder. If he had spoken to a human friend, they may have advised him against the dangerous course he had taken,” the police source added.
Kenneth allegedly consulted the AI tool for advice on the method of killing three people, chemicals to be used to get rid of blood stains, packaging of the bodies after the murder, and moving them from the apartment he shared with Shwetha.
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The Bengaluru police have written to the parent tech company of the AI tool, requesting complete logs of Kenneth’s chat histories to substantiate the digital evidence for the prosecution.
Resentment towards mother
Police sources said the motive behind the killings appears to be rooted in financial strain and domestic resentment. Shwetha reportedly held deep animosity toward her mother for being “controlling”. Also, she feared being forced to return Rs 50 lakh that she had borrowed from her mother and subsequently squandered on Kenneth’s lifestyle.
On June 22, Shwetha’s mother Muthulakshmi was allegedly lured to the K R Puram apartment first. Once inside, Kenneth allegedly stabbed her 26 times. When Shwetha’s father and sister arrived at the flat a short time later, they were also allegedly stabbed.
Following the attack, the couple allegedly travelled to Shwetha’s parental home in southeast Bengaluru to steal cash and silver ornaments. They discarded her younger sister’s mobile phone near the scene before fleeing to Puducherry for a brief getaway, said the police.
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“They had gone to Puducherry around 15 days before the murder for a holiday as well,” sources said.
Shwetha’s father Somasundar managed to crawl out of the flat. At around 9 pm on June 22, neighbours found him lying in a pool of blood on the staircase of the Sai Green apartment complex. Before succumbing to injuries at the hospital, Somasundar gave a crucial dying declaration to responding police officers. He stated that he had been attacked by his daughter Shwetha and her friend Kenneth, and begged officers to rescue his wife and younger daughter who were still trapped inside the flat.
The police arrested Shwetha from Puducheery on June 24 and Kenneth within the next two days.
Social isolation and judicial custody
Both accused hail from well-to-do, middle-class families of first-generation migrants in Bengaluru. Kenneth’s father is a retired employee of a major defence public sector undertaking involved in aircraft manufacturing, while Shwetha’s late father worked for a global IT firm. Kenneth’s father has since completely distanced himself from the case, telling his son to handle the legal consequences alone.
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Police sources said psychological evaluations during the probe highlighted deep social isolation. Shwetha, who previously held a high-paying job at a multinational social media news forum, lost her job after becoming heavily dependent on Kenneth.
Police sources described their relationship as a transactional friendship in which she funded his lifestyle and he was completely cut off from other friends. The police added that the two displayed a lack of social responsibility, processing real-world consequences as if they were playing a video game.
Following the conclusion of her police custody, Shwetha was remanded to judicial custody on July 10, where she has reportedly offered to make a full confession statement in exchange for a pardon. Kenneth, who underwent polygraph and scientific testing during his nine days in police custody, was formally remanded to judicial custody by a Bengaluru magistrate court on Saturday.
