An elderly man was beaten to death late Sunday night for allegedly sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl in his neighbourhood.
Preliminary police investigations found that 73-year-old Kuppanna alias Kuppaswamy, who resides in East Bengaluru, lured the class 10 student with an offer of buying her juice, around 9 pm, when she stepped out to pick up her uniform that she had hung out to dry.
Kuppanna, a helper in laying tiles in under-construction buildings, took the girl to the first floor of a two-storey building and made her drink something, after which she fell unconscious.
Having not found the girl, the family went knocking every house and found Kuppanna lying naked with the girl inside his house and realised he sexually abused her.
Three people thrashed Kuppanna while the family took the girl home. The family filed a complaint against the septuagenarian early Monday morning. However, Hennur police, who got into action immediately, found Kuppanna dead at home.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Bheemashankar S Guled said Kuppanna, who hails from Tamil Nadu, had been residing in the neighbourhood for several years and was known to the girl’s family.
Police have registered a case against Kuppanna for sexually abusing the girl, while a murder case has also been registered against the girl’s cousin, a relative and her cousin’s friend who thrashed Kuppanna.
The trio were unaware that Kuppanna would die receiving their punches and hand blows.
A senior official said Kuppanna must have made the girl consume some cheap liquor. “We found a whisky tetra pack in his room,” the official confirmed.
The official said police have informed Kuppanna’s sister in Tamil Nadu about the murder. Post-mortem will be performed after the sister arrives and the body will be handed over to the family afterwards.
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