Assailants chose to attack realtor-politician on wife's birthday

The unidentified men who hacked a realtor-cum-politician to death over an old rivalry in Rajarajeshwarinagar on Thursday night chose the victim’s wife’s birthday to execute their plan.

“The suspects were watching the movements of Umesh Belagodu, 48, a resident of Rajarajeshwarinagar, for the past few weeks. Umesh had organised a lavish party at his residence on Thursday to celebrate the birthday of his wife Rajeshwari, a former BJP councillor from Nayandahalli ward. He had gone out for some work and was
returning home only to participate in the celebrations when the assailants attacked him,” said a police officer.

It was a well-planned murder and the assailants used a stolen car for the purpose. They abandoned the car at Rajarajeshwarinagar 16th Cross after the murder and absconded.
The police have seized the car and are in touch with regional transport office to ascertain the owner of the car, he said.

The police said the assailants might have stolen the car only to use it to reach to the spot.

They would not have abandoned the car had one of them owned it.

Preliminary investigation indicated that the car was regularly used to ferry air passengers to and fro Kempegowda International Airport, added the police.

Two special teams led by ACP (Vijayanagar subdivision) S K Umesh have been constituted to trace the assailants.

The CCB police have formed another team and the teams are working in Bengaluru and
neighbouring towns, the police said.

CCTV footage
The CCTV footage, which the police obtained, did not give crucial leads.

The police have obtained footage from other locations and are verifying the statements of the family members to establish the identity of the attackers.

Four assailants accosted Umesh when he was returning home in his car on Thursday night.

They dragged him out of the vehicle, attacked him with weapons and fled. Umesh was rushed to BGS Global Hospital where he died of his injuries.

Umesh had unsuccessfully contested from the Sakleshpura Assembly constituency on a Karnataka Janata Paksha ticket and was a loyal follower of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa.