Medical officer of Malur Government Hospital and his brother have been arrested for allegedly killing a 25-year-old man over a property dispute.

The joint operation by Hennur and Banaswadi police led to the arrest of Dr Muni Venkataraju and Muni Mohan. Venkataraju is the medical officer with Malur Government Hospital in Kolar district. Chetan Kumar, 25, is the murdered.

The brothers had a dispute with Kumar regarding a site at Chelekere.
Kumar had filed a petition in a court against the brothers. He had also complained to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) about a house constructed by the brothers in violation of norms and the Palike had served a notice on them. 

On several occasions, the doctor and his brother tried to make peace with Kumar, but failed. Kumar’s adamant nature and legal troubles allegedly forced the siblings to plan his murder, the police said.

On February 27, they took Kumar towards Paul’s School on Kammanahalli Road at Janakiram Layout on the pretext of discussing the dispute. They offered him cool drink laced with sedatives. When he fell unconscious, they attacked him with sharp weapons killing him instantly. They took the body to a remote area, covered it with plastic and smashed the head with a brick several times to ensure that the face was disfigured beyond recognition, said the police.

Later, they abandoned the body near Malur. Venkataraju thought that it would be easy for him to handle the case if the body was abandoned in the area where he served as medical officer, added the police.

On finding that Kumar has not returned home, his relative Venkatrama Reddy lodged a missing complaint with the police.

A forest conservator noticed a body draped in plastic and informed the Malur police. By then the Hennur police had alerted their counterparts in the neighbouring areas about the missing man.
The Malur police informed the Hennur police and they rushed to Malur with Kumar’s relatives. The relatives identified the body based on the dress Kumar was wearing.