JOIN US K Mahesh, the attendant at Pragathi School and PU College, accused of shooting dead a PU student and injuring another at their hostel on Tuesday night, had tried to flee after he was advised to surrender before the police by the owner of his sister’s house.
However, the building owner T K Thayappa and his friends overpowered Mahesh, who was armed with a pistol, and handed him over to the police. The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon when Mahesh visited his elder sister Shailaja’s house in B Naryanapura in Mahadevapura police station limits.
“Around 12 noon, Shailaja approached me at my office, located on the ground floor of the building and told that her brother Mahesh is the one who shot at the two girls at the womens' hostel. A teary-eyed Shailaja ran back to her house. A little later, I went to their house and was trying to console Shailaja and her husband. Within a few minutes, Mahesh walked into the house.
Looking at him, Shailaja started screaming. We did not speak anything for a while and then I requested him to surrender to the police, as they were looking for him. He opposed my suggestion and walked out of the house,” Thayappa told Deccan Herald on Friday.
Around 1.15 pm, as Thayappa, some of his friends and his driver were discussing the next move, Mahesh resurfaced. “We confronted him and asked him to surrender to the police. We were afraid that should the news spread people might lynch him to death. Mahesh said he will surrender to the police and we asked him to go to the Mahadevapura police station which is a kilometre away,” Thayappa said.
Fearing that Mahesh might escape, Thayappa, his driver and friends followed him. “As he reached the Mahadevapura main road, instead of taking a right to go towards the police station, he took a left turn and went towards the Ring Road. We realised that he was up to something and was planning to escape. He walked along the Ring Road and stopped exactly opposite the HDFC bank.
He saw us approaching him and tried to board a bus bound for Marathalli. We overpowered him and tied his hand. We were afraid that he might have the pistol and open fire at us. As soon as we tied him up, we found the pistol tucked under his belly,” said a friend of Thayappa.
They had informed the police, who rushed to the spot and took Mahesh into custody. Thayappa had seen Mahesh only twice when he had come to Shailaja’s house and had never interacted with him.
Thayappa said that soon after crime, the police suspected that Mahesh might have taken shelter at his sister's place.
“The police came to my house around one am on April 1 and told us about the incident. But my family members opposed me going out at that point of time. Later in the morning, when enquired with Shailaja, she said that Mahesh had not come to their house,” Thayappa said.