Brutal murders shake up peaceful neighbourhood

It was a horrifying start to the week for the residents of 11th main road in Vasanthnagar, central Bengaluru, as they woke up to a brutal double murder. Multi-storey residential buildings, shops and a temple are located on this congested lane which abuts the busy Millers Road.

Local residents were visibly shaken after Santoshi Bai and her daughter-in-law Lata were found murdered in their house. “We never heard about crimes in the area as the High Grounds police station is close-by. Women and the elderly freely move around till late night as a police patrol vehicle is always stationed near the Jain Hospital. The daylight double murder in the locality is hard to digest,” Motilal, a local resident, told DH.

Following the murder, a large number of residents gathered near the house even as relatives kept filing in. “My uncle Sampat Raj is known for his philanthropic works in the Jain community. He did not have enmity with anyone. I was shocked when I heard that his wife and daughter-in-law were murdered,” a relative said. A senior police officer said that the victims wore jewellery and there was also cash in the house.

“The assailants didn’t touch the jewellery or the cash. It’s certainly not a murder for gain.” Lata sustained injuries on the face, which indicates that she resisted the attack. Her one-year-old son Kush, who was sleeping on the first floor, has been spared. The assailants gagged the two women to prevent them from raising an alarm. It’s unclear if they deliberately spared the infant’s life,” the officer said.

The police are hunting for a man named Lal and his associate. Lata called up her husband and reportedly told him that Lal had come to the house to discuss something. The police are questioning Lata’s husband Dinesh and business rival Sampat Raj for more information about Lal. They will obtain the CCTV footage from a few shops on Millers Road for possible leads, the officer said.

Dinesh told the police that the family had moved to the duplex house in 1991. “I received a call from an unknown number. It was my daughter. She asked me to come to the house immediately. I sensed something awful had happened, but I didn’t even imagine that my mother and wife had been murdered,” the police quoted Dinesh as saying.

The officer said that Sampat Raj had business rivalry. “We will probe the murder from that angle, too,” he added. Besides Dinesh, he has two daughters who are married and settled in Bengaluru.