The city police, who launched an investigation into what appeared to be a kidnapping case, have instead uncovered a murder. After cracking the case, the police on Saturday arrested the victim’s son and three others whom he had allegedly paid to kill his father.
Paneer Selvam, 52, a resident of Ramamurthy Nagar, was abducted by a group of people in a car while he was on his way to a nearby temple on Friday morning. “During the preliminary investigation, we uncovered that the victim and his son Rajesh Kumar, 26, had a stormy relationship and fought over several issues, including property,” said a police officer.
The police detained the son and under sustained interrogation, he allegedly confessed to ordering a hit on his father. According to the police, Kumar had given a supari for ₹10 lakh and paid an advance of ₹3 lakh to Parthiban, 29, who hails from Vellore, Tamil Nadu, and lives in Bengaluru. “Parthiban, along with his associates, abducted Paneer Selvam and killed him. We immediately tracked down and arrested Parthiban and two of his associates, Stanley, 25, and Anand, 21, both residents of the city,” said a police source.
The trio have allegedly confessed to the murder. They disposed of his body in a eucalyptus grove in Kolar, and the police have recovered it now. “The investigation revealed that this was not the first attempt on the life of Paneer Selvam. In March this year, the same gang had hit Paneer Selvam on his head with a wooden plank, but he survived. On Friday, once they abducted Paneer Selvam, the trio injected him with a poison and beat him up. He died in the car and his body was thrown away,” said a senior police officer.