BENGALURU: It was December 15, 1958. Three death row convicts – Krishna Reddy, Muniswamy and Govinda Reddy – were hanged to death at Bengaluru’s old central prison at Gandhinagar for mass murder of the family members of well-known criminal lawyer Belur Srinivasa Iyengar at his palatial house ‘Ranga Vilas’ on the night of June 5, 1956.
The mass execution was perhaps the first in the State of Mysore after Independence. Iyengar who had given up his law practice due to old age was leading a comfortable retired life.
He was known to be a wealthy man and the womenfolk of his family had stashed a lot of jewellery in iron safes at home.
Iyengar, his second wife Vengadamma, his daughters Rangalakshmi, Ratna and Prasanna, his sons Lava and Kusha and his mother-in-law Singamma lived together at Ranga Vilas. His son Muthanna from his late first wife was mentally challenged and was kept in a separate room away from others. Iyengar had a servant-cum-watchman named Ramalingam.
June 5, 1956 was a usual night for the Iyengars. They had their dinner and went to bed. Ramalingam was sleeping in the verandah.
Around 6 am the following day, Ramalingam’s wife Yellamma came to the house with her friend Ammakannamma and found that the front gate was closed, but the other gate was ajar. On entering the house, the two women found Ramalingam, Vengadamma, Singamma, Lava and Kusha lying dead in pools of blood with injuries on their faces, necks and heads. Rangalakshmi and Iyengar were alive, but unconscious with grievous injuries. Rathna and Prasanna, who were sleeping in another room, were spared the bloodbath. Ratna found the iron safes, almirah and trunks in which they had kept their valuables had almost been empty.
Iyengar and Rangalakshmi were rushed to Victoria Hospital where the former succumbed to his injuries in the evening and the latter remained unconscious for a long time.
The case was investigated by inspector Sivacharan Singh. The police recovered a blood-stained crowbar, an iron rod, a bread knife, a hammer, parts of cinema tickets of the ‘Himalaya Talkies’ and bloodstained clothes from the crime scene. They also found the family dog which was lying in a dazed condition had been doped. A missing iron bar of a window adjoining the verandah gave police the clue on how the culprits might have gained entry into the house.
The police had no clue about the killers till June 8 night when daffedar (head constable) Vedagiri, who was on patrol at Seshadripuram, saw a man moving in a suspicious manner. He discovered that the man was Channa, a former convict from Chikkanayakanahalli. He was carrying a bundle which had a crowbar and a steel rod. Vedagiri was on his way to crack the sensational mass murder that still reopens the chilling memories of elderly Bengalureans.
Channa, on interrogation, told the police that he had come to Bengaluru a fortnight ago and had attempted to commit burglary at Iyengar’s house with one Krishna Reddy and Muniswamy and that they had failed in their attempt.
Krishna who stayed at Gurumurthi lane in Ulsoor was arrested and stolen jewellery and bloodstained clothes were found in trunks at his home.
Muniswamy was arrested the same day near a toddy shop in the city and some jewellery and cash stolen from Iyengar’s house were recovered from him. The third accused - Govinda Reddy - was arrested on June 10 from the City Market. Finger prints taken from the crime scene matched with those of the trio.
Circumstantial evidence proved that they looted Iyengar’s house after murdering the inmates. They were convicted and hanged subsequently.
Ranga Vilas was demolished subsequently and now Syndicate Bank stands at the place. The old prison where the convicts were hanged has given way to Freedom Park.