Besotted clerk tries to kill colleague near Soudha

BENGALURU: Blood spilled inside the Karnataka Public Service Commission office, behind Vidhana Soudha, on Monday when a clerk, 45, obsessed with a married colleague attempted to murder her and attacked another colleague who tried to rescue her.

Police sources said Jayalakshmi, 41, and Ramu, 52, are injured and under treatment in a private hospital.




The assailant, Nataraju SK, a first-division assistant and resident of SBM Colony in Banashankari, was arrested from the spot and the machete seized from him.

Police said Jayalakshmi, a senior assistant and mother of two, is out of danger.

Woman had spurned clerk’s proposal

The incident took place around 11.20am in the chamber of IAS officer RR Jannu when he was away. Preliminary investigations said Nataraju, a divorcee, was obsessed with Jayalakshmi, a colleague of eight years. After she spurned his marriage proposal, he went to her residence in MS Palya last week and fought with the woman and her husband.

Police said an angry Nataraju decided to eliminate Jayalakshmi and came to the office with a machete. He saw her entering Jannu’s chamber around 11.20am and hit her with the machete on the head. Ramu, dalayat who rushed to save her, was hit on the right hand. Ramu and other staffers overpowered Nataraju. KPSC staff alerted Vidhana Soudha police, who arrested Nataraju within minutes of the attack.