Trio kills call centre staffer for asking them not to smoke

Suspects blew smoke in victim's face at roadside eatery

Three young men humiliated and then fatally stabbed a youth just because he asked one of them not to smoke as it was bad for health.

The incident occurred at a roadside tea stall at the Ramamurthy Nagar traffic junction around 3 am on Monday, the police said.

Shashank Srinath, 23, a native of Mangaluru, who worked at a call centre in Whitefiled, had treated his two friends, Alex and Shivu, to dinner at his home in Kasturinagar on Sunday night. After dinner, they went to the roadside stall and ordered tea.

As the trio waited for tea to be served, three men — identified as Daniel, Vasu and Ajay — came over and ordered tea for themselves too. In the meantime, Daniel lit up. Srinath didn’t like that and requested him to give up smoking and drinking, saying he was too young to acquire such habits.

But Daniel got furious and, mockingly, blew smoke in Srinath’s face. Vasu and Ajay joined Daniel in making fun of Srinath. The trio then pounced on him, stabbing him twice in the abdomen. Shivu and Alex rushed to Srinath’s rescue and took him to a hospital but it was too late, the police said.
The police said they arrested Daniel, Vasu and Ajay, all residents of Hoysalanagar.