Bengaluru: Father of two stabbed to death for not paying Rs 5,000

A petty dispute snowballed into a murderous assault that claimed the life of a father of two in western Bengaluru last week. Police have arrested seven suspects.

Dasarahalli resident Zabihullah (30) was found lying in a pool of blood on Oil Galli in Padarayanapura around 12.30 am on May 13. His wife Neha Anjum and other family members had come looking for him.

Zabihullah, who drove a Canter for a living, left home around 10.30 pm on May 12, saying he had got a customer. Neha went to meet her mother-in-law, Aqeela, who lives nearby. She tried calling her husband, but he was not reachable.

Around midnight, Aqeela received a phone call from a relative named Chand Pasha, who told her that Zabihullah had gotten into a fight with Patta Ansar.

A resident of Shamanna Garden, Ansar had given Zabihullah the Canter for Rs 3.5 lakh two months ago.

Zabihullah had to pay him Rs 15,000 a month. He paid Rs 25,000 for two months, but couldn’t pay another Rs 5,000 because business wasn’t good. However, he reportedly got the vehicle registered in his name without Ansar’s knowledge.

Neha and Zabihullah’s mother tried to contact him again. This time, Ansar answered the phone. “I am the Canter owner. Your husband has duped me. I’m not going to spare him. I’ll finish him off,” he blurted on the phone and hung up.

The family got worried and ran in search of Zabihullah. Ansar’s mother told them that he had gone to the railway track in Shamanna Garden. Zabihullah’s family went there, but didn’t find him. They called Ansar again, and he said he had beaten Zabihullah and dumped him on Oil Galli.

What they saw on Oil Galli freaked them out: Zabihullah was lying motionless, his track pants soaked in blood and his head gashed.

He was later pronounced brought dead by doctors at Victoria Hospital.

In her complaint to the JJ Nagar police, Neha named Ansar as the suspect and asked the police to take action.

Acting on the complaint, police arrested Ansar and six of his associates — Tousif alias Turab, Nayeem Pasha alias A Pintu, Imran alias ‘Facewash’, Shaikh Zabih, Mubarak Pasha alias Bakra, and Abubakar Siddique alias ‘Yaana’.