Youth hacked to death; old rivalry suspected

BENGALURU: A group of four men allegedly hacked a 28-year-old youth to death on the busy Huluvenahalli Road in Bingipur village, near Bannerghatta, on Friday morning. Police suspect old rivalry to be the motive.
Bannerghatta police said Sathish Reddy, a car washer who had recently begun working for the Congress in his village, Kalkere, was attacked by the assailants when he was returning home on his bike after dropping his wife at her office near Electronics City around 9am.
The miscreants came on two bikes and chased Sathish’s two-wheeler for a few metres. They took out machetes and other sharp weapons and began hitting Sathish even as the bikes were moving. Sathish stopped the vehicle and tried to run, but in vain. The miscreants followed him to a vacant land and assaulted him before escaping. He died on the spot.
Onlookers remained mute spectators all through the episode. Alerted by the public later, Bannerghatta police rushed to the spot and shifted the body to Victoria Hospital. It was handed over to Sathish’s family after postmortem.
Victim had been arrested in assault case
Police suspect Sathish may have been murdered over an old rivalry. According to preliminary investigation, he had several criminal cases against him and had been arrested by Bannerghatta police in an assault case a few months ago.
“Sathish was ill-tempered and picked up a quarrel over petty issues with people he routinely came across. Fifteen days ago, he had a fight with a few autorickshaw drivers. He threatened them not to file a police complaint. Thought they didn’t lodge a complaint, they seem to have taken revenge by eliminating him. We have definite clues about the accused and will nab them very soon,” a police officer said.