Tenant shoots landlord's plumber

Facing eviction, a tenant opened fire on a plumber who was summoned by the landlord to disconnect the water supply to the house in Bhuvaneshwari Nagar, Amrutahalli  Tuesday afternoon.

Shibin Mathew, 34, was shot in the left leg by the tenant, Prakash Gowda, with a licensed revolver. Mathew was rushed to a nearby private hospital where he is being treated. Police have taken Prakash Gowda, 34, into custody. They also confiscated the revolver. 

Gowda has been booked for attempt to murder ( Sec 307 IPC) and under the Arms Act for the misuse of weapons.

A neighbour, Munegowda, told Deccan Herald that the house-owner, D K Madhu, 49, had been trying to evict Gowda because he wanted to renovate the house and build a large water sump to compensate for the acute shortage of water.

“ Prakash was very quarrelsome. He was not on talking terms with many people in the area. He had even installed CCTV cameras in front of the house. When he refused to vacate the house, Madhu was forced to use strong arm tactics. With the help of an electrician, he got the power supply to the house disconnected three days ago.

On Tuesday afternoon he brought a plumber and proceeded to disconnect water supply also. That led to an altercation and Prakash fired at the plumber,” Munegowda said. Madhu rushed Mathew to the hospital and then called the police. “Gowda was arrested as he was trying to flee the house,” police said.

Sources said that although Gowda’s lease agreement had expired in December 2011, he had refused to vacate the house. In July 2011, when Madhu and his wife Aji had publically demanded that he leave the house, Gowda allegedly threatened to kill Aji if she continued to pester him. Following this, a complaint was registered at the Amrutahalli Police Station.

Police officials  said that Gowda and Madhu had come to the police station to discuss the matter and Gowda had  refused to vacate the house. “In fact, he said that an
astrologer had told him not to vacate the house till March next year,” police said.

  Police confirmed that the licence for Gowda’s .32 revolver had been renewed for three years on July 23, 2011.