BENGALURU: In a horrific crime committed in broad daylight, a rowdy-sheeter who was with his wife and daughter was hacked to death by a gang of eight men inside a bank in busy Koramangala on Monday afternoon. The police suspect it to be a ‘supari’ (contract) killing over an old rivalry.
The deceased, Joseph alias Babli, aged around 40, was a resident of Rajendra Nagar slum in Adugodi. A rowdy-sheeter of Adugodi police station, he had turned into a small-time civil contractor over the last few years.
The police said Babli, his wife and daughter had come on a two-wheeler to the Union Bank of India’s branch at Koramangala 8th Block. While they were inside the bank around 1.15 pm, the eight-man gang attacked him with swords and machetes even as his wife tried to stop them. Her two fingers were chopped off as the assailants were swinging the sharp weapons wildly, the police said. Babli died on the spot, while the assailants escaped from the scene.
Some of the customers ran out of the bank thinking that the attackers were a gang of dacoits, as they had covered their faces. It is learnt that they had come on two-wheelers and sped away swiftly after committing the murder. Soon after the crime, senior police officers rushed to the spot and a sniffer dog squad was pressed into service.
‘Special teams formed to nab killers’
Additional Commissioner of Police (East) S Murugan told reporters that special teams have been formed to nab the killers.The police have recorded the statements of bank employees and are analysing footage
from CCTVs at the bank and surrounding localities. A murder case has been registered at the Koramangala police station.
Dad-in-law murdered in hospital, son-in-law in bank
Sources said that Babli, who was not involved in any criminal activities since 2011, was the son-in-law of Palani, who was hacked to death by a gang of 20 assailants in the infamous Hosmat Hospital attack in 2006. Palani was undergoing treatment at the hospital and the incident had sent shockwaves across the city.
“Babli’s brother-in-law, George, also a rowdy-sheeter, was arrested in connection with a murder case at Ashoknagar recently. There is information that Babli also had a rivalry with a criminal, Shivakumar. George and Shivakumar were not on good terms with Babli. Their involvement is being probed and it is suspected that it’s a supari killing. The role of insiders cannot be ruled out as the killers had a clear tipoff that the target was going to the bank,” a police official said.