The North-east division police tracked down three persons from Kunigal in Tumakuru district within 11 hours of the murder of the chief executive officer (CEO) and the managing director (MD) of a broadband firm at Amruthahalli here on Tuesday.
The police are on the lookout for the owner of another firm, who is the alleged mastermind of the double murder that was executed through one of his employees over business rivalry.
Around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Aeronics Media Pvt. Ltd. MD Phanindra Subramanyam, 36, and CEO Vinu Kumar, 47, were hacked to death by a gang of three men in front of around 10 staff members.
Based on a complaint, the police formed special teams and tracked down the accused who were named as Shabarish alias Felix, 27, from Devarachikkanahalli; and his associates Santosh, 26, a resident of Marenahalli on Bannerghatta Road; and Vinay Reddy, 23, a resident of Roopena Agrahara.
The fourth accused who hatched the murder plan, identified as Arun Kumar, owner of G-Net, another broadband service provider at Bannerghatta here, is on the run, Laxmi Prasad, Deputy Commissioner of Police, North-east division, who is supervising the investigation, said.
Probe revealed that Phanindra and Vinu Kumar were earlier working with Arun Kumar, and they resigned to start Aeronics Media Pvt Ltd. in November 2022 . The duo also poached around 10 employees of G-Net . The firm soon started doing good business and was giving tough competition to Arun Kumar’s firm.
Infuriated, Arun Kumar allegedly asked his employee Felix to do the hit job, and the latter roped in two persons and gained entry into the office on the pretext of seeking jobs.
The police said during the interrogation Felix tried to divert the investigation claiming that he eliminated the duo as they were interfering in his love life. He also claimed that when he was working for G-Net, Phanindra sacked him over some issue following which he bore a grudge against him.
Felix, who has over 16,000 followers on social media, claims to be a Kannada rapper and a fashion model.
Based on the complaint by Shankara Narayan, senior sales manager of the company, the Amruthahalli police have charged the accused for murder and criminal conspiracy.
