Bengaluru: Two senior citizens held for murdering labourer

BENGALURU: Two senior citizens have been arrested on charges of murdering a 45-year-old construction worker. Police arrested the duo within hours of them finding the body Ashwath, the victim, at 3pm on Saturday.
Ramamurthynagar police arrested Srinivas Reddy, 68, and Subbaiah Naidu alias Sriram, 69, for allegedly tying up the victim and bludgeoning him to death. The suspects are residents of Ramamurthynagar, while Ashwath lived in Muneshwaranagar.
Reddy was constructing a residential building for his son at Hoysalanagar and Ashwath worked there. Reddy had recently noticed a motor pump set missing and suspected Ashwath.
Police said that instead of filing a complaint, Reddy with Sriram’s help brought Ashwath to his under-construction building on Friday night. “They tied Ashwath’s legs and hands using a rope and metal string and began assaulting him. They hit his head with an iron rod and a wooden log,” said a police source.
DCP (east) Bhimashankar S Guled said the suspects murdered Ashwath inside Reddy’s building, but dumped the body 50ft away. Around 5am Sunday, police received information about the body lying on the road. While it was shifted to a mortuary, cops couldn’t immediately ascertain the victim’s identity.
Meanwhile, Ashwath’s wife Manjula, who arrived at Ramamurthynagar police station to file a missing person complaint, was taken to the mortuary. She identified him.
Aside from section 302 (murder) of IPC, police have invoked relevant sections under the SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) Act as the deceased is a Dalit. Police seized a wooden log, rope, and metal string from the crime scene. “Preliminary investigation revealed the suspects murdered Ashwath over the issue of the missing motor. We are investigating to see if there was any other reason,” said Guled.