Heated car sale dispute leads to murder, 5 arrested

Pulakeshinagar police said the victim Asgar, 36, was murdered after accused Ameen disagreed with his friend Syed Mujahid, who was also injured in the incident, over the sale proceeds of two cars.

Bengaluru: A businessman and his four associates have been arrested for the alleged murder of Syed Asgar alias Shoaib, a scrap dealer. The victim was run over by an SUV, police said.

The arrested are Ameen, a local businessman and the prime suspect, his associates Nawaz, Javed, Mubaraq and Shoaib — all aged between 25 and 30.

According to the Pulakeshinagar police, Asgar, 36, was murdered after Ameen disagreed with his friend Syed Mujahid, who was also injured in the incident, over the sale proceeds of two cars.

An FIR filed on October 19 noted that Ameen had taken two cars from Mujahid nearly eight months ago but had failed to return the sale proceeds close to Rs 4 lakh. When asked, Ameen kept giving excuses, Mujahid had alleged.

Nearly 20 days before the murder, Ameen reportedly agreed to pay back the proceeds after a meeting with the community elders. Things then took a turn for the worse.

On October 4, Mujahid alleged that Ameen, Nawaz, Javed, Mubaraq, and Shoaib assaulted him with beer bottles and attempted to murder him near S K Garden. An attempt-to-murder case was filed subsequently against Ameen and others at the JC Nagar police station.

On October 19, the deceased Asgar, who is known to Mujahid, received a phone call from Ameen around 12.30 am. Ameen asked both Asgar and Mujahid to meet him near Pottery Town, as Mujahid told the police. Asgar had earlier accused Ameen of verbally abusing him.

When the duo reached the spot on Asgar’s scooter, Ameen, who was behind the wheel of a black Mahindra Scorpio, crashed his four-wheeler into their two-wheeler around 12.45 am.

Mujahid said in his complaint that he was injured while falling on the footpath, while Asgar, who attempted to ride away, was hit again by Ameen’s SUV. As Asgar lay sprawling on the road, Ameen allegedly ran his car over him, as stated by Mujahid in his complaint.

Their friends, Thousif and Khaleel, who followed Asgar and Mujahid to the spot, rushed them to Bowring Hospital. Mujahid said that Asgar died at the hospital. A video of the incident, which was recorded by a passerby, went viral on social media.

Ameen and his associates were booked under IPC sections 302 (punishment for murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and remanded to judicial custody.