5 murder cases solved; 2 held

 Mandi police claim to have cracked five murder cases reported in a span of nine months, at different police stations in the city by arresting a drug addict and his accomplice on May 28.

Announcing this to the media in the city on Wednesday, Police Commissioner K L Sudheer said that the prime accused has been identified as Kaiser, aged 24 years, a drug addict working as a coolie at Old RMC and resident of Shantinagar near Ahmadeeya Mosque, and Harish, 26 years, Kurimandi, N R Mohalla, in the city.

Outlining the modus operandi of Kaiser, the Sudheer said that he was addicted to solution (inhaling the eraser or whitener after applying the same on a piece of cloth) and liquor, and was targetting only waywards. He used to pick quarrels with his victims with the intention of robbing and eventually killing them by crushing their heads with a huge boulder. He had murdered five people including a 40-year-old woman in this fashion.

His recent victim was Trimurthy alias Murthy, 36 years, Kurubageri, Nanjangud in the district. Murthy was found murdered by Mandi police on May 19, near the Ganapati temple close to old RMC yard. However, barring this case where Harish aided Kaiser, he is not involved in other cases, the Commissioner clarified.

When the police team led by Inspector T B Rajanna comprising SI Shabbeer Hussain and others probed further, interesting facts emerged about a daily wager in the RMC yard, who was said to be “acting like a beast under the influence of drugs”. That’s how the investigators zeroed in on Kaiser at J K Grounds on May 27.

Kaiser, during interrogation confessed about four more murders he had carried out single-handedly in a similar manner. He was targeting waywards found on pavements of shops and footpaths during the nights.

The other victims identified are as follows:

* Latha (40), of K R Nagar, daily wager at RMC yard, who was found dead at a drain near police public school. The case was registered at Udayagiri police limits on May 20,2012. 

* Chand Shariff (32) of K R Nagar, found dead near five light circle and Basavashetty (39) of Boodanur, Gundlupet, found dead at Halladakeri first cross. Both the cases are registered at Lashkar police station.

* Somachari (36) a resident of Holenarsipura, found dead near LIC office on KRS road. The last three cases were reported in a short span of 17 days, in August 2012.

Interestingly, one of the victims Basavashetty, was also a habitual offender, who knew Kaiser. However, he had to pay a price when a quarrel broke between him and Kaiser over a trivial issue.

Kaiser, a house burglary and theft convict, had earlier walked out of jail after completing the sentence. One each of burglary cases had been registered at Mandi and N R Police stations.