BENGALURU, 11 MAY

Two murders of rowdy sheeters within a span of a month have left the residents under Banaswadi police station limits in Sarvagnanagar constituency in shock and dismay. “There is absolutely no police control here. High on banned substances and carrying lethal weapons, these anti-social elements are having a free run in the area. We are scared to come out as we do not know when one gang would attack another and we would be caught in the melee,’’ said Ashok Hegde, a senior citizen and resident of Oil Mill Road.

In the first murder on 27 March, Dinesh Kumar, a 34-year-old rowdy sheeter and a contract killer, was hacked to death at an Oyo room in Kammanahalli. Police have arrested 12 people, including Dilip Sagar alias Speed, in this murder case.

Kumar had come along with the accused to book a room for a day to plot the murder of Sagar. The suspects carried a bag with lethal weapons. Since the manager of the Oyo room insisted on cash payment the duo accompanying Kumar went out to a nearby ATM to fetch cash while Kumar sat in the lobby. Within minutes, five people who accompanied Kumar and another five whipped out machetes and hacked Kumar to death. 

Police said the accused had double-crossed Kumar as they were offered money by Sagar and his associates. Sagar allegedly perceived a threat to his life from Kumar as the deceased had vowed to finish him off.

Police have nabbed Arvind, Dilip Sagar, Ajay Christopher, Nikhil alias Vicky, Gowtham, Darshan, Melvin, Karthik, Satish, Kishore, Diwakar and Sheka. Sagar and Ajay are notorious rowdy sheeters and have cases to their name in Kothanur, Ramamurthy Nagar and Banaswadi police stations.

In the second incident around 1am on Tuesday, the victim was Karthikeyan, alias P&T Karthik, a 40-year-old notorious rowdy who had entered the fray as a real-estate businessman. A six-member gang wielding machetes chased Karthikeyan and hacked him to death near his house at Ramaswamy Palya. 

Police said Karthikeyan, who had a string of cases to his name in Banaswadi and Commercial Street police stations, had his rowdy sheeter name revoked by a City court two years ago based on his good conduct. A rival gang in the vicinity had a dispute with him over a land deal and police suspect this to be the reason for the murder. Police have arrested Dharma, Ishaq and Sultan based on the CCTV footage and local intelligence on Thursday. Police are on the lookout for the prime accused who is also a rowdy sheeter. -Salar News