Ravi Kumar was driving a Scorpio belonging to Bande Manja when the gang attacked him.
The first time 33-year-old Ravi Kumar drove a sports utility vehicle was the last drive of his life.
City-based advocate Kumar was killed by a rowdy gang, who mistook him for a rival gangster on Saturday night.
The gang’s target, Bande Manja, escaped as he was in the advocate’s car, a Maruti Alto. Kumar was following the Alto in Bande’s Scorpio, when the gang intercepted the vehicle and hacked him to death at Sadekoppa on Tavarekere Road near Nelamangala.
Police identified the killers – suspected to be eight of them – as associates of rowdy Hatti Manja, currently lodged in the Parappana Agrahara central jail, in connection with the 2009 murder of Yaadal Devi.
According to deputy superintendent of police (Nelamangala) HR Dharmendra, the advocate was returning to his home in Manne, after attending a party organised by Bande Manja and his friend and Yadaal gram panchayat member Harsha at Yadaal. About 22 persons attended the party.
While returning, Kumar expressed his wish to drive the Scorpio. Bande Manja granted the advocate’s wish and one of his associates took the wheels of the Alto. Kumar drove the Scorpio, with the gangster and Harsha as passengers.
Hatti Manja’s associates, who were on the lookout for Bande
Manje, passed information that the latter’s Scorpio had left the party. After travelling some distance in the SUV, Bande Manja and Harsha boarded the Alto, while a few of his associates remained in the Scorpio.
Police said Kumar trailed the Alto. As the Scorpio reached Sadekoppa, the killer gang arrived from the opposite direction on two-wheelers and a Tata Sumo, and fired at least five rounds at the SUV. Scared, Kumar attempted a U-turn and in the process, a tyre got stuck in a drain.
On realising that the vehicle had been stuck, Kumar tried to flee. The gangsters, however, caught up with him and hacked the advocate to death. They also attacked and injured Bande Manja’s friends, Nandish, Satish, Puttabyra and Vinay, who were travelling in the Scorpio. No one suffered bullet injuries.
One of the injured men informed Bande about the attack. Bande and Harsha returned to the spot, and informed the police. By the time Bande and Harsh reached the spot, the advocated had died.
Police said the injured were admitted to hospitals in Nelamangala and Rajagopalanagar. All four of them were out of danger.
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