Corporator’s son arrested for rowdy’s murder

The city police on Tuesday arrested a corporator’s son in connection with the murder of a history-sheeter.

Sooraj (24) — son of Hombegowda Nagar corporator Chandrappa D — was held for the murder of Vijay Kumar (Lakkasandra Viji) on December 4. He was produced before the magistrate and remanded in police custody for interrogation.

Vijay was hacked to death at his Lakkasandra office by a 12-member gang. A special team formed to investigate the case had named 11 accused in the case. During the probe, it was learnt that Sooraj had given a contract of Rs 15 lakh to kill Vijay, said a senior police officer.

Friends-turned-foes

Corporator Chandrappa’s family stays in Lakkasandra, just 100 metres away from Vijay’s real estate office. Vijay and Chandrappa were on good terms. Both were accused in a murder case in 2007 at the Wilson Garden police station.

Later, Chandrappa entered politics but remained friends with Vijay. Vijay had campaigned for Chandrappa during BBMP elections. After winning the polls, Chandrappa helped his son Sooraj get a class-3 contractor licence.

Both fell out soon after. There were also fights between the associates of Sooraj and Vijay. Sooraj had also given loans to Vijay’s relatives and associates at huge interest rates, which irked Vijay.

A couple of months ago, Vijay met Sooraj and Chandrappa seeking garbage-lifting contracts for his men. Sooraj opposed this, and their rivalry peaked.

Recently, Vijay’s associates attacked Sooraj’s men, after which Sooraj started plotting his murder. He came across a gang which was waiting to settle old scores with Vijay after he had killed one of their men in 2013.

Gang members and JB Nagar residents Shafiulla, Sai and Vivek accepted Sooraj’s contract to eliminate Vijay.