Following a lead on the murder of Appuswamy Sriranga Gounder, 59, an advocate from Tamil Nadu, the Cubbon Park police arrested three persons and charged them with murder on Monday.
Gounder was allegedly strangled to death by the trio, who later dumped his body in a canal in Mandya district. A native of Tirupur district in Tamil Nadu, Gounder was reported missing since February 11 after he left his hometown for Mandya.
Acting on a complaint lodged by his family, the Mandya police, along with Tamil Nadu police, had begun investigations. The Mandya police reached Bangalore after they traced the use of the victim’s ATM card to a petrol bunk near Raj Bhavan.
The Cubbon Park police then launched a search and traced the accused. The arrested are –– Mohammed Junaid Abdul Jabbar, 25, from Chamarajnagar; Yeshwanth Shankar, 22, from Tavarekere in Mandya; and R Girish of Nagamangala taluk, also in Mandya district.
Police said that defending Junaid, a habitual offender, who had been booked by the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka police on several charges, including robbery and theft, cost Gounder dear. He was Junaid’s lawyer.
Initial interrogation has found that the trio had intercepted Gounder’s car, boarded it and forced him to drive towards Mandya. There, the police said, Gounder was strangled. “The accused had taken away all his valuables, including his car.”
The three men have been handed over to the Tamil Nadu police.