Three murders in 12 hours in Bangalore

Bangalore, April 17: The City witnessed three murders in a span of 12 hours in separate incidents.

A four-member gang hacked a businessman to death in broad daylight on Monday allegedly over a property issue, while a man bludgeoned his wife to death on Sunday night.

Three unknown persons hacked a youth to death with lethal weapons late Sunday night.

Businessman hacked

A 32-year-old businessman was hacked to death in his own godown on Monday morning in Avalahalli, Byatarayanapura. The dead has been identified as Satish Kumar Honnappa.

The attack is believed to have taken place by 9 am, minutes after Sateesh reached the godown Vinuta Chemicals in Avalahalli.

The incident came to light when Jayaram, Satish’s father-in-law, came to the godown at 10 am and saw his son-in-law lying in a pool of blood. Sateesh had sustained severe injuries on his head, neck and back, and was already dead.

Jayaram has lodged a complaint with the Byatarayanapura police in which he has named three men – Shekar, Manja alias Kadle Manja and Chenna alias Umesh, as suspects.

Jayaram told Deccan Herald that Sateesh was involved in a property dispute with Lokesh, his nephew, regarding a site in Brindavan Nagar and that might have led to the attack.

In 2008, Lokesh had teamed up with Manja and Chenna and had allegedly attacked Sateesh. He survived the attack after a two-month battle for life in the hospital.

An attempt to murder case was lodged at Kempegowda Nagar station, but all three were acquitted recently. Jayaram suspects that the same men may have taken their revenge on Monday.

Sateesh Kumar was married to Vinutha, 24, and the couple has a four-year-old son, Jhenkar.

Homemaker murdered

Lakshmi, 42, a homemaker was found murdered at her house in Kasturbanagar near Bytarayanapura on Monday.

Lakshmi was a garment factory worker and was married to Venkatesh, 47, a labourer. The couple had two daughters, both married, and a son, working in Ramanagar.

Police said the couple separated three months ago, after Venkatesh suspected that Lakshmi was having an affair with a person identified as Anand.

Neighbours told the police that they saw Venkatesh visit Lakshmi on Sunday night. They grew suspicious when Lakshmi did not open the door till late morning on Monday.

Anand came to Lakshmi’s house around 8 am and when she did not open the door, he peeped through the window and saw her lying in a pool of blood.

There was a grinding stone near the body and the face was crushed beyond recognition. Since Venkatesh is absconding, the police suspect he may have killed her.

Youth hacked to death

Lawrence, 32, was allegedly hacked to death by a three-man gang in Banaswadi on Sunday night. Lawrence was a resident of OMBR Layout in Ramamurthynagar.

Police said Lawrence was the only son to his parents and had four sisters.

He had tried various jobs after he failed to complete PUC and had worked as a medical representative till a year ago. He was also addicted to alcohol and was in the company of a group of friends who were also unemployed.

His parents’ efforts to reform him had failed and he would often pick fights with them. He had also borrowed money from a few persons and had failed to repay them.

Kumaran, a shopkeeper and an eye witness to the murder, told Deccan Herald that an autorickshaw followed Lawrence near Maruthi Sevanagar bus stop around 10:30 pm.

Three men, aged around 30 years, got down brandishing lethal weapons and Lawrence started running away onseeing them. They chased and attacked him, killing him within minutes. The assailants got back into the autorickshaw and fled.

The police suspect an old rivalry to be the cause for the murder.