Cops exhume bodies of 2 realtors killed over land deal

The police on Sunday exhumed the bodies of two realtors whose abduction and murder were allegedly plotted by another real estate businessman, who had refused to return Rs 50 lakh after a land deal went awry, a senior officer said.

Prasad Babu (47) of Rajarajeshwari Nagar and A Balaji (44) of Girinagar went missing on June 27 shortly after leaving home to meet Tejas N Raju, a realtor. Babu had purchased a site from Tejas and paid Rs 50 lakh for it. But he cancelled the deal on legal advice as the site turned out to be a stormwater drain. Balaji had helped Babu get a loan for the site. Babu asked Tejas to give the money back.

On June 27, around 9.30 am, Tejas called both of them to his office in JP Nagar. They reached around 11 am and stayed until 3.30 pm. Tejas then took both of them to Anjanapura on the pretext of returning the money. That’s when he cleverly changed tack.

With the help of seven accomplices, he abducted the duo and took them to his farmhouse near Thalaghattapura in southern Bengaluru. The victims were tied to a chair and their faces gagged with Cellophane. They were thrashed for nearly two hours until they suffocated.

Tejas and his accomplices took the bodies to Harohalli, Kanakapura Road, around 7.30 pm and burnt them before burying them in a vacant land next to a graveyard around midnight. The gang used an earthmover for the job. Anil Kumar, a member of the gang, brought about 20 litres of petrol to burn the bodies and contacted his friend to get the earthmover from Yelachenahalli, JP Nagar.

Meanwhile, the families of Babu and Balaji got anxious as they didn’t return home. They filed missing person complaints at Rajarajeshwari Nagar and Girinagar police stations, suspecting Tejas’s role.

On Saturday, the police picked up Tejas for questioning and he spilled the beans. The police went on to arrest Kumar and another suspect, Manikanta alias Mani. They secured the three men’s 10-day custody and took them to Harohalli on Sunday to exhume the bodies.

The police reached the spot around noon and exhumed the bodies around 4 pm. They found skeletons and carried out a mahazar (spot inspection). The remains have been sent for forensic examination. The land where the bodies were buried belongs to Gangadhar, a resident of Harohalli, who has leased it to a private company. He was shocked to see the police on his land.