GADAG, 22 APRIL

The Gadag police have cracked the mystery behind four murders that took place on 19 April, with the arrest of eight people, including kingpin Vinayak Bakale, who allegedly gave a contract Rs 65 lakh contract to assailants to eliminate his parents and brother Karthik Bakale.

The plot went awry and the parents survived. However, Karthik Bakale and the family’s close relatives were hacked to death in the early hours of 19 April.

Karthik, 27; Parashuram Hadimani, 55; Lakshmi Hadimani, 45, and Akanksha Hadimani, 16, were found murdered at Dasara Oni in Gadag, police said. Karthik was the son of BJP leader Prakash Bakale and Sunanda Bakale, who is the vice-president of Gadag-Betageri City Municipal Council.

Police sources said Karthik’s marriage had been fixed, which the Hadimanis had come to attend. Since the jewellery, valuables and cash were intact in the house, police doubted that the motive was not robbery but something else, police sources said.

They said that a property dispute among the siblings was suspected to be the reason behind the murder as Prakash was to give all his properties to Karthik, which irked Vinayak, who allegedly decided to wipe out his parents and brother.

On Monday, Inspector General of Police (North Zone) Vikas Kumar told reporters that they had arrested Vinayak Prakash Bakale, 35; Fairoz Khazi, 29; Jishan Khazi, 24; all from Gadag; twin brothers Sahil Ashfaq Khazi, 19; Sohail Ashfaq Khazi, 19; Sultan Jilani Sheikh, 23; Mahesh Jagannath Salunke, 21, and Waheed Liyaqat Bepari, 21, all from Miraj in Sangli district of Maharashtra.

Vinayak had given a Rs 65 lakh contract to Fairoz, who arranged vehicles and weapons and carried out surveillance, Kumar said.

The assailants broke into the house thinking that only three people were present, the IGP said, adding that the targets were Vinayak’s parents and brother. “Vinayak gave the contract to eliminate his parents and brother Karthik. PTI