Garment factory owner falls to death

A garment factory owner fell to his death from the terrace of his office at Kamakshipalya on Friday evening as he was allegedly being questioned by the police in a cheating case.

The victim, T Chandru, 41, resident of Laggere, owned Raju Creations, a garment firm on fourth cross at Vinayakanagar in Kamakshipalya. Police are now looking into the case as to whether it was an accident or someone pushed him down.

“We have booked cases against the three policemen attached to Pulikeshinagar, a sub inspector and two constables, to ascertain the nature of the death. Chandru was in police custody and the police had taken him to an undisclosed place inside the City on Friday morning for questioning,” said DCP (West Division) Rajappa.

Raju Creations is housed in a four-storey building and more than 200 employees work in it. Vijay, who owns a sewing machine manufacturing unit and two of his associates were also present during the questioning. It is said, Chandru owed Rs 15 lakh to Vijay for the sewing machines he had bought from Vijay. Vijay had lodged a complaint with the Pulikeshinagar police after Chandru failed to pay the money. The police had registered a cheating case against Chandru. “We are questioning Vijay and associates also though no case has been booked against them,” Rajappa added.

According to Chandru’s friend Srinivas and an eyewitness, Chandru was standing close to the wall while answering the police. As the questioning was in progress, the power went off. Minutes later, Chandru was found on the ground with serious head injuries.

The three policemen, Vijay and his associates rushed downstairs and took Chandru to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead.

It is still not clear as to why the three policemen took Chandru to the terrace though there was enough space in the office to conduct the questioning.

Chandru is survived by wife Sunitha, son Hemanth, studying in Class VII and daughter Divya, a PU student. He began his career as a tailor and had accumulated wealth due to hard work and started his own garment firm a few years ago, said sources.

Chandru reportedly had a lavish lifestyle. He had lent money to several people without verifying their repayment capacity and did not bother too much when they failed to repay. This landed him in financial mess, sources added.