Bangalore:
Fearing arrest after an unsuccessful attempt at chain snatching, three youths murdered a member of their own gang and dumped his body at an isolated spot at the Railway Colony in Yeshwanthpura in Bangalore.
The victim was identified as Manjunath, a habitual offender involved in several robbery cases.
Police recovered Manjunath's highly decomposed body on July 11. The murderers had slit his throat and disfigured his face to conceal his identity.
Yeshwanthpura Inspector M K Ganapathy, the investigating officer in the case, used a recharge card on the body and traced the shop in MSR Nagar where it had been purchased.
"Manjunath was a minor. He had been arrested on several occasions for theft. He would always be produced before the juvenile court where he was let off with a warning. The ease with which he managed to go free after committing a theft emboldened him further," explained Ganapathy.
After his release from a juvenile home, where he was kept after being held for committing credit card fraud, Manjunath met Satish, who used to work in an ice cream factory.
Satish introduced Manjunath to his cousins Raghavendra and Umesh. The gang of four began working together and took to snatching gold chains on three occasions.
The crimes went unnoticed and the gang spent the booty on vices.
A few days later, Manjunath and Satish made another attempt to snatch a chain from an old woman in Rammurthynagar on July 10.
The two were chased by some people on the spot.
Manjunath fled the scene but left his motorcycle behind. Satish, who feared the gang would be traced from the registration number of the motorcycle, decided to murder Manjunath.
The gang took Manjunath to an isolated spot at Railway Colony in Yeshwanthpura and slit his throat. They disfigured his face by crushing it with a stone and fled the scene.
The Yeshwanthpura police subsequently learnt that Manjunath was frequently seen with Satish and was in touch with him over the phone.
Inspector Ganapathy detained the three cousins who confessed to the murder as well as the details of the crimes committed by them.
"Satish was considered as a well-behaved boy in his hometown Davanagere. It was after he came to Bangalore last year that he acquired several vices. He confessed to killing Manjunath to avoid arrest. He did not want his family to know that he had taken to crime," Ganapathy said