Two months on, unnatural death turns out to be murder over Rs 100

A 31-year-old man previously thought to have died after suffering a head injury in an accident two months ago was actually murdered by a friend during a petty fight, police have concluded.

Prateek Yadav, a resident of Divanarapalya near Yeshwantpur, was taken to a hospital in Hebbal, North Bengaluru, on October 20 after complaining of severe pain. He died the same day at 7 pm.

His family told the doctors as well as the Yeshwantpur police that he suffered the injury in an accident. Police opened a case of unnatural death and sent the body for post-mortem at MS Ramaiah Memorial Hospital.

The report was revealing: “Death is due to head injury sustained to be investigated on the lines of homicide. However, final opinion reserved pending for want of chemical analysis report (sic),” it said.

Police then set out to solve the mystery and found out that it was not an accident, but a murder over a mere Rs 100.

Yadav was an alcoholic and didn’t have a job. He had befriended one Sameesh, a Kerala native who worked at a meat store near Thindlu Circle on Kodigehalli Main Road. He was also friends with the store owner, Suresh.

Hit with cast iron weight

On October 17, a visibly drunk Yadav went to the meat stall and asked Sameesh to lend him Rs 100 to buy alcohol. But Sameesh turned him down. In a fit of drunken rage, Yadav abused him with choicest words. Sameesh got angry and hit him on the head with a one-kilogram cast iron weight.

Suresh intervened to stop the fight, called Yadav’s friend Subramani and sent him to hospital. Yadav told doctors that he had met with an accident and asked Subramani to tell the same. After the treatment, Yadav went home with Subramani. But his pain didn’t go away.

The next day, his younger brother, Nikhil, took him to Nimhans where doctors asked for a scan. But the family returned without getting a scan or treatment. On October 20, Yadav again complained of pain and was rushed to a hospital in Hebbal where he eventually died.

Post-mortem report

Once the post-mortem report came, Yeshwantpur police transferred the case to Kodigehalli police because the death occurred in hospital.

Investigators questioned Suresh, Subramani and a few other people, and learnt about Yadav’s fight with Sameesh. By now, Sameesh was no longer working at Suresh’s store. Police learnt that he had moved to Anekal, working as a mason there. They subsequently arrested him.

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