BENGALURU: In a swift operation, the South- East Division police arrested three persons who set fire to two SUVs belonging to Bommanahalli BJP MLA Satish Reddy in the early hours of Thursday. While the motive is yet to be established, it is said that the trio committed the act as one of them was not given an opportunity to meet the MLA on two occasions and they were upset that Reddy was not helping the poor.
The accused have been identified as Sagar (19), a resident of Garvebavipalya near Madiwala, Sridhar (20) of Begur and Naveen (22) of Bandepalya. All three are said to be unemployed. City Police Commissioner Kamal Pant told the media on Friday that there were no clues about the accused, but the police conducted a detailed technical investigation and zeroed in on a bike that was used by the accused.
“The police teams had verified visuals captured by hundreds of CCTV cameras in the locality. It was found that the accused had escaped on a bike after committing the offence. The image of that visual was enlarged to get the registration number,” the Police Commissioner said.
MLA suspects larger plot in car burning
Pant said, “The police teams were searching for the vehicle to trace the accused. Around 7 pm on Friday, one of the accused was found riding the vehicle. He was nabbed and based on his information, two others were picked up. The accused are being questioned about their motive.
During the initial inquiry, it was found that one of the accused had tried to meet the MLA on two occasions but he was not given an opportunity and this was also a reason for them to target the MLA. The background of the accused is being verified.”
Sources said the accused revealed that they were upset that the MLA, who moved around in luxury cars, was not helping the poor. Meanwhile, MLA Reddy said that the three arrested youngsters are not from his area and suspected that they were used by those with vested interest to target him and others.