Man killed by pals, wife injured

The dead man was identified as Venkatesh (32), a resident of second cross, Srinivasanagar, Pattegarapalaya, said the Vijaynagar police.

Venkatesh’s four friends - Uday, Sunil, Prakash and Kenchaseena came to his house around 11 pm. After a casual conversation, they asked Venkatesh to come out.and picked a quarrel over money issue as they came out of the house. They attacked him with lethal weapons.
When Venkatesh’s wife, Shwetha, tried to protect her husband, she too was thrashed and attacked her ith lethal weapons, causing her severe injuries. They absconded after Venkatesh died, Shwetha told the police in a complaint.

Shwetha is battling for life at a private hospital in Basaveshwarnagar. Venkatesh owned a saree shop at Hongkong Bazaar in Gandhinagar.

He was a partner with Kenchaseena at a gambling joint. The duo would monitor the people playing cards and share the profit. Recently, Kenchaseena parted ways with Venkatesh and started running the business on his own. Both of them had quarreled over the issue, police added.

A few days ago, Uday, tipped police off about fake goods that Venkatesh was selling, leading to a raid and recovery of fake sarees.

Venkatesh quarrelled with Uday after the incident and allegedly threatened to kill him. Kenchaseena and Uday decided to kill Venkatesh and convinced Sunil and Prakash to be part of the conspiracy, police added.