Seven arrested over murder of car driver

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Cracking the recent murder of a car driver near Laggere, the city police arrested seven people in connection with the case. Ravi, a resident of Chowdeshwari Nagar in Bengaluru, was found murdered around 7.45 pm on May 24. It is said that he had attended the birthday party of his friend Krishna Murthy, who is also a Congress party worker.

The attack on Ravi took place when he was returning to his home, the police said. The arrested accused have been identified by the police as Gopal, 35, Kiran Kumar, 29, Manikantan, 23, Karthik, 34, Babu, 32, Manjunath, 42 and Nagaraj, 38, all residents of the same locality.

Following an interrogation, the police said that the deceased had won money in a gambling bet from Nagaraj and Gopal during Ugadi festival in March. The accused had been threatening Ravi to return the money they had lost.

According to sources, the accused started harassing him over the phone. On March 24 evening, when Ravi answered the call, one of the accused asked him to come near the 50 feet main road. Upon his arrival at the meeting spot, the accused are said to have attacked Ravi with machetes and chased him until they reached Halli Ruchi Hotel in Chowdeshwari Nagar.

The accused cornered a severely injured Ravi and smashed his head with a heavy stone before fleeing from the spot. Nandini Layout police had taken up the case and arrested the accused persons.