The Jnanabharathi police on Monday arrested Kumar alias Pilli Kumar on the charge of murdering Raja Gowda, 60, a security guard who foiled his attempt to steal cash from a donation box (hundi) of the Male Mahadeshwara temple in Nagarabhavi on October 4.
The police said Kumar, 30, of Ramanagar town is a habitual offender. He would only target ‘hundis’ as he considered temples easy targets.
On the night of October 4, he entered the temple at Nagarabhavi and found Gowda sleeping on the premises. While Kumar was attempting to break the ‘hundi,’ Gowda woke up and tried to stop him. In the scuffle, Kumar hit Gowda on his head with a stone, killing him on the spot.
As he could not steal money from the ‘hundi,’ Kumar damaged the temple’s CCTV camera and fled with the digital video recorder, the police said.
Published 25 October 2016, 19:02 IST