Karnataka: Ex-IB officer allegedly killed for objecting to neighbour’s building violation
MYSURU: Two days after a former Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer was killed in what seemed to be a road accident, there was a twist in the tale on Sunday. The police have now established that the death of RN Kulkarni, a retired assistant director of IB, who was hit by a speeding car on November 4, was a planned murder.
Sources close to the investigation said that Kulkarni was murdered as he had questioned a neighbour for allegedly violating Mysuru City Corporation by-laws while constructing a building.
Kulkarni, who was walking near the Biotechnology Department on the Manasagangotri campus of Mysore University, was hit by the car, killing him on the spot around 5.30 pm on November 4.
Initially, the VV Puram traffic police filed a hit-and-run case. But CCTV footage, which surfaced on social media, helped cops establish it as a murder.
As seen in the CCTV footage, the car deliberately swerves and crashes into Kulkarni from the rear. Once the footage went viral, the VV Puram traffic police transferred the case to Jayalakshmipuram police station, where Kulkarni’s son-in-law Sanjaya Angadi had filed a complaint.
It stated that Kulkarni, who had come to know that their neighbour Madappa was constructing a building, had requested him to leave space as per the by-law. “But Madappa had not considered my father-in-law’s request and started the construction, violating the by-laws. My father-in-law filed a complaint with the corporation and even brought a stay on the construction from the High Court,” the complaint stated.
An ex-intel officer, Kulkarni had noticed that he was being followed by several cars in the past with an intention to crash into him. “Our father-in-law had revealed this to us over the phone as we stay in the US. We had told him to file a complaint, and he did with the local police station. He had also written to the city police commissioner and even to the Prime Minister Office along with details of vehicles (number plates) that followed him on three different occasions,” said Angadi.
The police have registered a case under IPC Sections 302 and 34 and begun the investigation.
Sources revealed that as Sanjaya has mentioned Madappa and his sons as suspects in the case, the police have taken the three into custody for questioning.
City Police Commissioner Dr Chandragupta said, “It was a case of murder. We are investigating it from different angles to establish the exact reason behind the act.”