Mandya Rural Police arrest four; Missing case turns into murder case

Mandya: Mandya Rural Police, who were investigating a missing case, have arrested four persons on charges of kidnapping and murdering the missing person and have registered a murder case against the four persons.

Those arrested are Bheemesh, a resident of Bevinahalli village in the taluk and his friends Sunil, Vinay and Niranjan, all residents of Anekere Street in Mandya. The person, who was allegedly kidnapped and murdered, is Venkatesh (33), a resident of Sathanur village, who was working at a garments store in Mandya.

Details: Venkatesh’s mother, on May 22, had lodged a missing complaint at Mandya Rural Police Station. Sub-Inspector Kumar, who took up the investigation, came across a half burnt body of a man at a deserted place in Hulikere Forest limits.

On inspecting the charred body, the Police came to know that the body was that of Venkatesh, who had gone missing and the miscreants in a bid to destroy the identity of the body, had poured petrol over it and had set it on fire.

Venkatesh’s mother, who identified the body as that of Venkatesh, also informed the Police about the difference between her younger son Ramesh and Bheemesh of Bevinahalli.

The Police, who began their investigation in this angle, came to know that Bheemesh had gone absconding from Mandya and had launched a hunt to nab him. The Cops finally nabbed him and his friends and subjected them to interrogation during which they came to know that hatred towards Ramesh had made the accused kidnap and murder his elder brother Venkatesh.

It is learnt that there were differences in opinions between Ramesh and Bheemesh over financial issues and a few months back, Ramesh had reportedly assaulted Bheemesh over the same matter in Bengaluru and a case was registered at Basaveshwaranagar Police Station. The Police had arrested Ramesh, who later came out on bail.

Assuming that there was danger from Ramesh, Bheemesh and his friends on May 22 midnight came to Ramesh’s house and as Ramesh was not in the house, Bheemesh and his friends took Venkatesh with them. They later took him to a deserted place in Hulikere Forest limits, where they allegedly killed Venkatesh, poured petrol on the body and set fire to it. The accused then left to Tirupati, according to preliminary investigation. It is to be known why the accused killed Venkatesh and whether they had financial dealings with him too.

Mandya SP N. Yathish guided Mandya Rural Sub-Inspector Kumar, ASI Chikkaiah and staff Jeshan, Rajendra Prasad, Praveen, Eshwar and Suresh Kumar in the nabbing operation.