The incident occurred after police nabbed three persons for killing a city businessman.
Police suspect it was rivalry in business that sparked it all—the murder was followed by the setting ablaze of the Vishnu hotel and lodge near Narayana Hrudayalaya on Hosur Road.
Hebbagodi police on Sunday arrested three persons for allegedly kidnapping and then murdering a 38-year-old real estate businessman, Anand alias Babu, on November 10.
Hearing of the arrests, angry friends of Anand went on the rampage on Saturday, November 14, and set fire to the lodge owned by the main accused in the case.
Police have identified the accused as Venkatesh, Srinivas and Manjunath, all residents of Keerthi Layout in Chandapur. The deceased, Anand, was a resident of Banahalli. Anand was kidnapped from Surya Nagar in Chandapur, and his body was later recovered from the forest area of Bilekal hills on Maralavadi Road, within the jurisdiction of the Harohalli police station.
Police said that Anand’s family had lodged a missing-person complaint at the Hebbagodi police station. In the course of investigations, police discovered that Anand had a close friend called Venkatesh, who was also involved in the real estate business. There were, in the recent past, differences between the two over business-related issues. Police took Venkatesh, his brother Srinivas and a common friend, Manjunath for interrogation. On questioning, the men confessed that they had kidnapped Anand, strangulated him in the car with a belt, and then dumped the body in the forest.
To destroy evidence and put the body beyond identification, they had even burnt it. Police searched the spot that the three mentioned as the site where the body was disposed. They found the body partially burnt.
Hearing of the brutal murder of their friend, a group of unidentified men rushed to the Vishnu Hotel owned by Venkatesh and set it afire. Fire and emergency service personnel were able to douse the flames through timely intervention. Police also intervened to calm the angry mob, but the men proceeded to Venkatesh’s house at Keerthi Layout. There, a Scorpio car parked outside the house was set on fire. Police have since tightened security at the house of the accused, as also the lodge.
A post-mortem examination was conducted on the body of Anand at Victoria Hospital before it was handed over to relatives on Sunday.
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