Gallows for Dandupalya gang members
The 34th Additional City and Sessions Court awarded capital punishment to 11 members of the dreaded Dandupalya gang on Friday.
The judge pronounced the verdict on the 14 cases of murder and dacoity - six registered in Bangalore, four in Mysore, two in Hubli and a one each in Hassan and Tumkur.
The convicts are: Dandupalya Krishna alias Krishna, Hanuma alias Dodda Hanuma, Munikrishna, Venkatarama, Thimma alias Koti Thimma, Venkatesha alias Chandra, Munikrishna alias Kirshna, Nalla Thimma, Chikkamuniya, Krishnadu and Lakshmi, wife of Dodda Hanuma.
The judge said the gang had committed murders which were of the rarest of rare cases in terms of the observations of the Supreme Court and High Court. The convicts murdered several innocent women and raped a few of them after they died.
75 murders, dacoities
The gang which unleashed terror between 1999 and 2001 got its name from a tiny village Dandupalya near Bangalore.
The self-proclaimed ‘saviours of Dalits’ from the village indulged in daylight robberies and some of them began committing robbery, dacoity and murders in the neighbouring towns, particularly Bangalore.
The modus operandi of the gang, which comprised men, women and children was to keep a close watch and target the house at a time when only a few people were in the house. The victims were killed by slitting their throats. The gang had committed about 75 murders and equal number of dacoities.
Special unit
The Bangalore police had constituted a special team to nab the gang. Then Joint Commisioner of Police Suresh Babu led the team the gang members were arrested in early 2001. The gang members went berserk in court when they were convicted in a case in 2006 and regular hearings resumed from 2009. Deputy director of prosecution Chandrashekar Hiremath and Gopinath argued for the prosecution. Hiremath conducted arguments for most part of the case.
