CCB cracks cases junked by rly police, arrests seven for serial killings

The Central Crime Branch (CCB) and the Kengeri police have arrested a gang of seven for three murders --- one of them dating back to 2001.

The arrested have been identified as Shekar Raju (33), the prime suspect and his associates Venkatesh Raju (40), Kumar Varadaraju alias Jirale (37), Ganesha Kashi (31), N Nagendra Kumar (34), all residents of Kengeri Satellite Town, and Raju alias Basavaraju (34), a resident of Dasanapura hobli, and Nagendra Lakshman, (25) a resident of Ramohalli.

The police said the gang used the same modus operandi, whereby they strangled the victims and dumped their bodies on railway tracks between Kengeri and Hejjala to make them look like suicides and railway accidents. The railway police, who registered cases of unnatural death, had to close them since the bodies could not be identified, until the body of Suresh, one of the victims, was identified by his spouse. It was then the other murders came to light.

Venkatesh, an aide of Shekhar, was in love with a woman, who was married to one Yellappa. Venkatesh continued to have feelings for her even after her marriage and decided to eliminate Yellappa with the help of his gang members. They strangled Yellappa on the outskirts of Kengeri in 2001 and dumped his body on the railway track. The body was recovered by the railway police and a case was registered. However, since the body was not identified, the case was subsequently closed.

Venkatesh and the woman started living together thereafter. Things took a curious turn when the woman got into a relationship with  Ramesh. In 2002, Venkatesh conspired with his gang and using the same modus operandi, killed Ramesh on the outskirts of Kengeri.

In 2014, Ramesh’s brother Suresh came to know that his brother was murdered by Shekhar and decided to take revenge against him. He sought the help of Shekar's friends Nagendra and Ganesh. Shekhar learnt about Suresh’s plan through Nagendra and Ganesh. The plan boom-eranged on Suresh.

Suresh invited Shekar for a party on the outskirts of Kengeri as per the plan. But as pre-decided, Shekar’s associates Kumara, Raja, Nagendra Kumar and Venkatesh, who were waiting there, strangled Suresh with a rope and dumped his body on the railway track.

The police said Shekar and his gang  were involved in the murder of Manimuthu, and Vasu, the husband of Veena, who had given supari to kill her husband. They had dumped the body of Manimuthu into a lake and that of Vasu on a railway track.
DH News Service