JOIN USA 49-year-old realtor shot his wife dead at his home in Jayanagar on Thursday and fired at two of his children after driving them to his farmhouse on Kanakapura Road.
The children survived despite bleeding through the night. The police suspect a family feud behind the murder.
The realtor has been identified as Ganesh H K, a resident of Jayanagar 4th Block in south Bengaluru. His wife Sahana (42) was a homemaker and assisted him in the business. The couple had two children Namith (16), Siddarth (14) and an adopted daughter Sakshi (9).
According to the police, Ganesh fired six bullets at his wife from his licensed revolver, killing her on the spot. The incident happened around 11.30 am on Thursday. Sahana’s parents were out when the incident took place. The officials said that Namith, who is autistic, was at home when Ganesh killed his mother.
After killing his wife, Ganesh fled in his SUV with Namith and picked up his two children from school. Ganesh later headed towards his resort at Nettigere off Kanakapura Road, which has a farmhouse attached.
Around 1.20 pm, Ganesh reached the farmhouse and fed his children. Later around 4.30 pm, Ganesh locked Siddarth and Sakshi in different rooms and fired twice at Siddarth injuring him on his chin and leg. As he fell bleeding, Ganesh went to another room and shot at Sakshi on her stomach and hand.
The police said that all through the day, Namith had no clue about what was happening. As there was no power and generators too stopped working, Namith ran and sat in the car, calling his father to join him. When Ganesh rushed towards the car, both Siddarth and Sakshi, crawled up to the car crying.
Ganesh then drove with the children to Kollegal in Chamarajanagar assuming that the two would die on the way. However, the bullets missed their vital organs and they survived.
Ganesh then returned to his farmhouse on Friday morning. The police suspect Ganesh abandoned the plan of killing his children and committing suicide as he wanted his children at least to survive.
Meanwhile, by early morning, Jayanagar police who were on the lookout for Ganesh after being alerted by Sahana’s parents, arrested him near Banagiri in Bidadi. Siddarth and Sakshi were rushed to a hospital. Sakshi underwent surgery and is out of danger while Siddarth is yet to be operated for removal of a bullet. He is said to be stable.
Sahana’s parents had came home around 6.30 pm on Thursday. They had a duplicate key to Sahana’s house with which they entered to find their daughter lying in a pool of blood. Sahana’s father Nagaraj informed Ganesh’s brother, who rushed to the spot and shifted Sahana to a private hospital where she was declared brought dead. Her body was then shifted to KIMS Hospital for postmortem. Jayanagar police registered a case and initiated the probe.
'Deep in debt'
Preliminary investigation revealed that Ganesh had resorts and real estate business worth Rs 75 crore but had taken loans from two banks for Rs 20 crore and Rs 15 crore. He had also entered into a joint venture where he had borrowed Rs 9 crore to Rs 10 crore from his business partners.
Investigations revealed that Ganesh could not repay his loans and wanted to sell his property to repay it, but his wife was against it. This may have prompted him to killer her.
The police also suspect there was a suicide pact where Ganesh was to eliminate his family first and commit suicide. But that is the accused’s version to the police with none substantiating it, said a senior police officer.
Arms Act case, too
“We have taken up a case of two attempts to murder and have booked Ganesh under several sections of the Arms Act,” said superintendent of police, Ramanagaram district, Ramesh Banoth. “We are waiting for the Jayanagar police to investigate his wife’s murder first to pursue the investigation,” Banoth added.