Seven held for doing doctor to death

City Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths arrested the gang and recovered around 660 gram of gold jewellery and Rs 1.34 lakh in cash, two cars and seven cellphones, City Police Commissioner Shankar M Bidari told reporters here on Tuesday.

A gold chain is yet to be recovered as one of the accused has confessed to have dropped it in a temple hundi. The suspects were identified as Ravi Kumar (28) of Sanjaynagar, Ashwath Gowda (25) of Geddalahalli, Shivapratap (24) of Nandini Layout, Chetan Kumar (20) of Sanjaynagar, Kumar (30) of Mysore Road, Bhushit (20) of Vasanthanagar and Sanjana (24) of Sanjaynagar.

Ravi Kumar, the prime suspect, is a gym instructor in (Physique Gym) Ashwathnagar, while Sanjana is his lady love. Ravi Kumar hatched a conspiracy with others to eliminate Dr Sharath Kumar to redeem his debt. Others joined hands with him as they wanted to start business using the doctor’s wealth.

The prime suspect chose Dr Kumar as he owned seven buildings and would earn around Rs 10 lakh, said Bidari.  Chetan Kumar and Bhushit are studying first year BBM at a City college and the two, after taking part in the crime, left for an excursion. The CCB team followed them to Ooty and Coimbatore and the moment the duo landed in the city, they were picked up.

Ravikumar and Aswath Gowda stayed in a hotel in Seshadripuram and were monitoring the aftermath of the crime while Sanjana played a role in disposing the jewellery. Police started looking for suspicious movements of persons in and around Sanjaynagar and  zeroed in on Ravi Kumar.

They also found that he did not turn up at the gym on April 10, the day the doctor was abducted. The police took him into custody and grilled him. Ravi admitted to the crime. One of the suspects, Kumar of Mysore Road, took Dr Kumar in a taxi claiming a patient needed treatment at his house. He instead drove the doctor to Ravi Kumar’s house where they tied the doctor’s legs and hands after he resisted their demand for Rs 25 lakh ransom.

They asked him to call up Shailendra, Nirmal Jewellers owner, so he could deliver 572 gram gold at his house. The doctor relented. They turned greedy, forcing Dr Kumar to again speak to Shailendra for more jewellery. Shivapratap collected the first installment from the doctor’s residence and Bhushit the second. They decided to eliminate Dr Kumar after they thought he could disclose their identities. They drove him towards Kunigal before strangling him. The body was later disposed of in an open place, about 20 kilometres from Kunigal, said Bidari.

They pledged 187 grams gold with Mutthoot Finance, RT Nagar. The police are yet to recover the jewellery from the finance company. The gold chain the suspects apparently at the Shani Mahatma temple hundi in Bhoopasandra is also yet to be recovered, the Commissioner said.