BENGALURU: A misunderstanding over a phone led to the murder of a 40-year-old driver of a private company near Nagarabhavi on Wednesday. Police arrested the prime accused Subhash and are on the lookout for four of his associates. The deceased is Prasad V, a resident of Nagarbhavi. Subhash told the police that he and his associates assaulted him.

A police officer said that Prasad had gone to a bar on Wednesday. A gang of five was seated next to his table thought that he had stolen a phone belonging to one of them. They questioned him and when Prasad said that he had not seen it, they took him to a room near Ring Road.

At 8.30 pm, the gang forced him to call his wife to the room. One of them assaulted Prasad in front of Sukanya. She asked them to let him go and that she would bring him back the next day. However, they refused and sent her back. At 10.30pm the same day, they informed her that Prasad was unconscious. When she went to the room again, the gang had fled leaving Prasad. Sukanya rushed him to a hospital where he was declared brought dead. She then filed a complaint with the Chandra Layout police.