Chandru murder case: Bengaluru court sentences two men to 13 years in jail

Bengaluru: The 51st Additional City Civil and Sessions Court has convicted two accused in the murder of a 22-year-old in Bengaluru in 2022.

The CID special court sentenced the accused Shahid Pasha alias 'Narrow' and Shahid Pasha alias 'Gena' to 13 years of simple imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 20,000.

The case dates back to April 4, 2022, when the victim Chandru V was murdered. Chandru was accompanied by his friend Simon Raj, who had taken him out for a chicken roll as he was celebrating his birthday.

According to the investigation, in Halegudadahalli the motorcycle driven by the accused had hit the scooter of the victims. The victims after an argument were attacked with a machete. While Raj managed to escape, Chandru sustained injuries and later died in the hospital. The incident was captured on CCTV cameras and the footage showed the ghastly attack.

The case took a political turn and blew up after the then Home Minister of the BJP government Araga Jnanendra had remarked publicly that Chandru was killed as he didn’t know Urdu. Following an uproar, Jnanendra had retracted his statement.

After the initial investigation by the jurisdictional police, who had arrested the suspects, the case was handed over to the CID. The CID team led by DySP Nandakumar led the investigation and gathered pieces of evidence including from 30 witnesses and filed the chargesheet on June 30, 2022. The investigation also revealed that there was no row over the Urdu language. 

The two were convicted under IPC Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 506 (criminal intimidation) and Section 27(1) (punishment for using arms) of the Arms Act, drawing a punishment of seven years, and three years each, respectively.