The city police have achieved a breakthrough in the investigation into the murder of 42-year-old rowdy sheeter Chandru on Thursday by arresting seven persons.
City Police Commissioner Ramesh Banoth told The Hindu that investigations so far had revealed that 11 persons were involved in the gruesome assault on Chandru. The seven arrested on Saturday were among the nine motorcycle-borne youths who had attacked Chandru on Thursday evening.
Two others had allegedly provided logistics support to the nine youths involved in the assault. “Investigations are still underway”, he said.
A total of nine youths astride three motorcycles had arrived at a tailor’s shop close to Chandru’s house in the vicinity of Kalidasa Road where he was chatting and hacked him to death with a machete before fleeing from the scene.
The police had traced the assailants through videos and CCTV footage and identified them. They were produced before the court and handed over to judicial custody on Saturday.
The seven youths arrested on Saturday have no previous criminal record. “It appears that they have committed the crime at somebody else’s instruction. We will have to take them into police custody and interrogate”, a police official said.
Based on the information available so far and the statements made by the victim’s relatives, the police said the killing appears to have been carried out due to rivalry.
Chandru was one of the accused in a double murder case in Hunsur in 2008 as well as the murder of Devendra alias Devu in Paduvarahalli in 2016. He was acquitted in both the cases and was released from jail.
Of late, Chandru was involved in small-time finance while assisting his wife in running a road-side fast food outlet and the police had not received any complaints against him in recent times.
In the wake of the murder, the City Police Commissioner had constituted a special team comprising the Assistant Commissioners of Police of Narasimharaja, Devaraja and City Crime Branch (CCB) besides the Inspector of Mandi Police Station and others to trace the accused.
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