Raichur, Nov 14 (IANS): With the arrest of two youths, Karnataka police on Tuesday claimed to have cracked the murder case of a female lab technician in Hatti town of the district.

Earlier it was suspected to be a case of human sacrifice but investigations revealed that the middle-aged victim was in a relationship with one of the young killers.

The arrested have been identified as 23-year-old Sameer Sohail and Mohammad Kaif.

According to police, Manjula was murdered on October 26 and the burnt body was found near her house.

After the crime, the accused had robbed Rs 10 lakh cash and gold jewels from the victim's residence and escaped in Kaif's car.

Manjula suffered from some physical ailments and had sought Sohail's help. Taking advantage of it, the accused had called her to an isolated place on the pretext of a pooja.

As directed by them, she had taken her gold jewellery. They then applied vermilion and turmeric on the cash and jewels and asked her to pray.

While she was engrossed in praying, the duo killed her and later Sameer burnt her body near her house.

Based on information, the police arrested them and recovered Rs 7.49 lakh in cash, 163 grams of gold besides the car and bike used for the crime.

Initially, it was suspected to be a case of murder for black magic.

It was also suspected that the woman had committed suicide.

However, her son raised a suspicion as Rs 10 lakh loan which she had taken as loan from the bank and all the money withdrawn form the bank were missing along with gold jewels.

Hatti police are further investigating the case.