BENGALURU: A 34-year-old waiter, who had been on the run after murdering his friend nearly 14 years ago, was arrested by the RT Nagar police from Vyalikaval last week.
While absconding, the accused, identified as R John, worked as a waiter in Tirupati for six years and then came to Hoskote, where he worked in hotels for more than seven years.
John, along with his friends Chaati Raja, Arun and Manikanta, killed 20-year-old Chetan over an old rivalry on the 1st Main Road of Kempegowda Colony in Ganganagar on August 22, 2011.
Based on a complaint from Chetan’s father, the police had arrested Raja, Arun and Manikanta and had submitted a chargesheet against them before the court. In the chargesheet, the police had mentioned that John was absconding. Among the three, Arun had died, and Raja, who had come out on bail, had escaped, and an arrest warrant was issued against him.
A month ago, the police arrested Raja and resumed the search for John, who had around 20 warrants against him. Through local intelligence, police found out that John’s parents were residing at Vyalikaval.
When the parents did not provide any information, the police checked if any of their Aadhaar cards were linked with anything. They found out that one of their cards was linked to a gas agency.
Through the agency, the police collected the contact details of one of the parents and kept a watch. The police found out that the parents were from Andhra Pradesh and sent a team there. In AP, the police learnt that John had moved to Bengaluru a year back.
“John was not staying with his parents but was in regular touch with them, which helped us arrest him. He would often move places fearing arrest. He has been sent to police custody,” said an officer.
John, Raja, Arun, Manikanta and Chetan were friends. Once during an argument, Chetan had attacked Raja and had even gone to jail. After he came out, Raja wanted revenge and sought the help of the other three. On the day of the murder, the accused started a fight with Chtean. In a fit of rage, Chetan attacked John with a beer bottle, and in retaliation, the latter stabbed him to death with a knife.