The city police are confident of nabbing in a couple of days the killers of C.N. Srinivas, landlord-turned-realtor and husband of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike councillor Manjula Devi, who was hacked to death by masked men on Wednesday morning.
Hemanth Nimbalkar, Joint Commissioner (Crime), said they were on the right track and were tracking a gang of suspects. “The murder seems to have been carried out by a professional gang of “supari killers”. We have definite clues as to who carried out the murder, and special teams have fanned out in different directions and to neighbouring States to track them down,” he said.
A senior official involved in the investigation said the gang that had attacked Srinivas in April 2013 might be behind the Wednesday’s murder. The K.R. Puram police had arrested the gang last year but they were released on bail. “They are absconding. We are questioning their associates,” he said.
Kamal Pant, Additional Commissioner of Police (Law & Order), said the motive behind the murder was not clear. He said the victim was involved in politics, real estate and other businesses.
A delegation led by Mayor B. Satyanarayana met City Police Commissioner Raghavendra H. Auradkar on Wednesday and demanded that the city police provide security to all the BBMP members as there was a fear psychosis among the members, besides the family members of the deceased. Mr. Auradkar said that suitable security would be provided to the family based on the assessment of threat perception.
Final farewell
Meanwhile, the last rites of C.N. Srinivas were performed on Thursday amid heavy security.
The area turned into a virtual fortress as four Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) platoons and one battalion of City Armed Reserve (CAR) were deployed. Hundreds of his supporters attended the burial ceremony.
K.R. Puram remained tense. Most commercial establishments had shut shop “voluntarily”, said the police.
