MYSURU: A 32-year-old man, associated with Yuva Brigade, was hacked to death on the outskirts of T Narasipura on Sunday evening. Venugopal Nayak, a resident of Srirampura Colony in the town, was murdered by six men on the outskirts of the town.
On Saturday, a Hanuma Jayanthi celebration and the procession had been organised in the locality. Nayak objected to the accused persons parking their bikes near the Hanuman temple from where the utsava murthy was supposed to be taken on a procession. He also asked the accused to remove the flexes of late actor Puneeth Rajkumar from the procession van, leading to a clash between Nayak and his friends, and the accused persons. The situation had calmed down after some time and the procession was held peacefully.
But the two groups clashed again when flexes were being removed on the procession route on Sunday afternoon. The accused persons asked Nayak and his friends to come to a service station, which belongs to one of the accused Anil, on the outskirts of the town for a compromise. When Nayak and his friends came to the spot, there was a heated argument and in a fit of rage, the accused hit Nayak with a bottle. Nayak collapsed and his friends rushed him to a T Narasipura hospital, where he was declared brought dead.
Based on the complaint filed by the victim’s wife Poornima, T Narasipura police registered a case against six persons -- Manikanta, Sandesh, Shankaregowda, Anil, Haris and Manju.
SP Seema Latkar said two of the six accused have been secured, while three teams have been formed to arrest the remaining, who are absconding.
Tension prevailed in the town after pro-Hindu organisations called for a T Narasipura bandh, which was observed on Monday with shops and business establishments downing their shutters voluntarily. Pro-Hindu activists took out a march to protest against the murder, while the police had made elaborate security arrangements.
At the KR Hospital mortuary in Mysuru, where Nayak’s body had been brought for postmortem, pro-Hindu organisations and the victim’s relatives protested, not allowing the body to be moved to T Narasipura. They wanted the government to announce a Rs 25 lakh compensation and a government job to Nayak’s wife. The district authorities and police convinced the protesters to withdraw the protest.
Yuva Brigade chief Chakravarthy Sulibele, who met Nayak’s family, alleged that supporters of Sunil Bose, son of Social Welfare Minister HC Mahadevappa, are responsible for the murder.