Bengaluru: Painter murdered by colleagues during brawl over earphones

A 26-year-old painter was allegedly beaten to death by his colleagues during a drunken brawl in Doddanagamangala, Southeast Bengaluru, during New Year celebrations.

Karthik of Krishnagiri, Ravi of Uttarahalli, and Rajnish of Uttar Pradesh were painting a newly constructed building in Balaji Layout.

They partied hard on New Year's Eve.

Ravi borrowed Karthik's earphones and gave them to Rajnish. Later, they had an argument over the matter. Ravi and Rajnish picked up a photo frame and hit Karthik with it. Things later settled down, and they all went to sleep.

On Sunday morning, Ravi met the contractor Mohan and said Karthik had beaten him up. But he didn't tell the contractor that he and Rajnish had beaten Karthik. Mohan took him to a hospital for treatment.

Upon returning from the hospital, Mohan suspected something fishy and decided to check on Karthik, who was dead by then.

Mohan filed a police complaint. Police registered a case of murder and detained Ravi and Rajnish for questioning on Monday evening.

Police suspect that Karthik suffered injuries from the glass pieces of the photo frame.