Constable's quick action helps in arrest of hotel staffer's killers

Quick thinking and rapid action by a constable helped in the arrest of four young men in Devaiah Park in northern Bengaluru on Saturday night, hours after they reportedly murdered the staffer of a restaurant chain in Malleswaram and robbed a lawyer in Taverekere.

The suspects — Shivu, 21, Manikanta, 20, Likith, and Santhosh Rao — rode on two scooters and waylaid Ashish Paul, 32, who worked as cleaner at the Malleswaram unit of 1947, a restaurant chain.

After finishing work, Paul ate dinner with his colleagues in the restaurant located at Malleswaram 15th Cross. Around 11.30 pm, the group started walking to their accommodation located nearby. Paul walked slowly and remained behind while his co-workers went ahead. Just then, the suspects waylaid him and demanded that he part with cash.

A frightened Paul replied that he had no cash with him. One of the robbers then tried to snatch his mobile phone. When Paul tried to put up resistance, he pulled out a
button knife and stabbed him in the abdomen. The group then sped off.

Paul collapsed and started screaming for help, drawing the attention of his co-workers who quickly took him to Manipal Northside Hospital in Malleswaram. But he didn’t
respond to treatment and died at 1 am on Sunday.

As the police were notified about the murder, they sent across a message on walkie-talkie, asking constables to intensify patrolling and look for suspects riding on scooters.

Constable Dhananjay, who was on his night rounds, spotted a scooter without the registration plate at a tea shop in Devaiah Park. He questioned some people near the shop and asked for the scooter’s owner.

Shivu and Manikanta, who were near the shop, came up and told the constable that the two-wheeler belonged to them. When the constable asked them about the missing plate, they said they had recently purchased the scooter and were waiting for the registration number.

But the policeman wasn’t convinced as the scooter was old. Suspecting something fishy, he summoned a Hoysala patrol vehicle and took the duo to the police station.

The duo couldn’t withstand the grilling by the police and spilled the beans.

Police said they had recovered the button knife, a mobile phone that was later identified as Paul’s, Rs 1,500 in cash and two scooters from the suspects. Police are also investigating their reported involvement in robberies elsewhere.

Shivu and Manikanta are college dropouts while Likith R is a lab technician at a private firm in Peenya and Santosh Rao works at Garuda Mall.