Former Corporator C. Mahadesh, his brother C. Manju among 18 acquitted

Mysuru: City’s District and Sessions Court yesterday convicted 11 accused in the murder of Devendra alias Devu of Paduvarahalli (Vinayakanagar) which took place six years ago and the quantum of punishment will be announced later in the day today. A total of 29 accused — four in Ballari Jail, one in Bengaluru Central Prisons and 24 in Belagavi Jail — who were in judicial custody were produced before the Court through video-conference and Judge M.L. Raghunath, who heard the arguments from both sides, found 11 accused guilty of the crime and reserved the announcement on quantum of punishment for today (Mar. 4).

Those convicted are Pavan Kumar alias Pavan, Sunil Kumar alias Raaghu, C. Rakesh alias Rockey, H.B. Karthik, Manju alias Fayaz, Nagendra alias Vaddanaga, K.L. Sunil alias Badar, Vijay Kumar alias Viji, Manikanta alias Bora, K.M. Raghu and Naveen alias RX Naveen.

Those who were acquitted are former Corporator C. Mahadesh, his brother C. Manju, Shivaraju, Padmanabha, Karthik, Gurudatta, Santosh, Paramesh, Shashi, Pramod, Naveen, Sridhar, Chandu, Mahadeva, Ramu, Shivakumar, Ilahi Peersaab Multani and Nandakumar.

It may be recalled that on May 5, 2016 at about 7.20 am when Devendra alias Devu was standing with his friends near Jodi Maramma Temple at Paduvarahalli, 10 persons, who came in a white Bolero vehicle attacked Devu with machetes, daggers and other lethal weapons, hacked him to death and escaped from the spot.

The then Jayalakshmipuram Inspector Thimmegowda and staff, who had registered a case under IPC Section 143, 147, 148, 302 and 149, conducted investigation and had arrested the accused, who had gone absconding.

The then N.R. Sub-division ACP Umesh G. Shet and Inspector Thimmegowda conducted an investigation and had collected evidences against 29 persons including C. Mahadesh and C. Manju. Mahadesh and Manju, who were accused in the Hunsur double murder case, were in judicial custody then. Later, the then City Police Commissioner B. Dayanand had registered a case under Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act (KCOCA) and ADGPs Bhaskar Rao and Dr. M.A. Saleem had submitted a chargesheet to the Court.

Out of 381 witnesses, the witness of 236 persons were taken and more than 20 officials including three ADGPs, three SPs and six Government officials had given their statements to the Court. Among the 29 accused, C. Mahadesh, C. Manju, Shivakumar and Chandu were lodged in Ballari Jail, Nagendra in Bengaluru Central Prisons and the remaining 24 accused were lodged in Belagavi Jail.

While Special Public Prosecutor Sudeep Bangera argued on behalf of the Government, advocates C. Parameshwarappa and R.P. Chandrashekar represented the accused.