BENGALURU: Three persons have been arrested by the police in connection with the murder of an RTI activist at Tavarekere in Ramanagara district. The accused have been identified as Pradeep Kumar alias Pradi (33), a resident of Tavarekere town; Satish TC (20) of Manjunatha Nagar in Tavarekere; and Tejas Kumar A (22) of Yelachaguppe in Tavarekere. The trio has been accused of chopping off the right hand and leg of Venkatesh alias Mahimaiah (43), an RTI activist, on July 15. The latter had succumbed at a hospital on Sunday.
Police said the investigation had revealed that the attack was over a financial dispute. “Pradeep Kumar, a financier, had lent Rs 10 lakh to the deceased Venkatesh, who had failed to return the money after paying a small amount of interest.
When the financier forced him repeatedly to return the money, Venkatesh allegedly threatened of filing a police complaint against him. Hence, Pradeep decided to teach him a lesson and hired four others, including the two arrested, and directed them to attack Venkatesh,” the police said. “At the behest of Pradeep, four persons had attacked Venkatesh. We are on the lookout for two other accused,” the police added.