BENGALURU: A man and a woman were arrested on charges of killing a 24-year-old delivery boy in a road rage incident at Sri Rama Layout in JP Nagar 7th phase on October 25. The deceased was identified as Darshan N, a resident of Gundappa Layout in Uttarahalli. His friend G Varun, also a delivery boy who was riding pillion, is undergoing treatment at a hospital.
The accused were arrested on Tuesday and identified as Manoj Kumar (36), a kalaripayattu instructor and a resident of Arakere. Kumar is running a kalaripayattu academy on Bannerghatta Road. Along with him, a woman identified as Aarathi Sharma (30), also from Arakere, was arrested. Both of them have been remanded in judicial custody. The relationship between the accused is yet to be ascertained.
The incident happened between 11.30 pm and 11.35 pm last Saturday, on the 1st cross in Sri Rama Layout in JP Nagar 7th Phase.
Police said the victim, while riding a two-wheeler, had touched the mirror of the accused’s car.
The accused, after reversing the car, chased the two-wheeler for almost two kilometers and rammed it from behind. The victim and the pillion rider were thrown off the bike in the impact. The rider died on the spot while the pillion rider was rushed to a hospital.
The JP Nagar Traffic police after registering a road traffic accident case went through the CCTV footage and found that the death was intentional. The CCTV footage revealed that Darshan while riding the two-wheeler had damaged the car’s right mirror near Nataraja Layout on the South City Road.
Manoj sped away from the scene after knocking the bikers down but returned to the spot some time later by covering their faces with masks to collect the damaged parts of their car.
The traffic police later transferred the case to the Puttenahalli police on Monday for further investigation.
N Bhavya, Darshan’s sister, said that her brother had started working as delivery boy only last week. “Initially we were under the impression that it was a case of accident. Later the police found out the real reason,” she added.
“The rider had died on the spot. Based on the CCTV footage, it was found that the car driver had intentionally hit the bike after his car’s mirror was damaged by the victim,” Lokesh Jagalasar, DCP (South) told the media.
A case of murder and attempt to murder under BNS has been registered against the accused.
