Pramesh S Jain & Dr.Thomas (Special Correspondent)
I
n a swift action the Tumakuru police cracked the triple murder case and arrested as gang of eight including the prime accused Patharaju (35) alias Rajaguru Kumar, a self-proclaimed priest of Sira Gate brutally murdering three people from Belthangady taluk over a row over treasure on Friday.
The accused Gangaraju,35,Madhusudhan,24,Naveen, 24, Krishna,22,Ganesh,19,Kiran,23 and Simon,18 were charged with murder and destruction of evidence .
The deceased Ishaq Simam,54,Shahul Hameed,45 and Siddique Abdul Khadar,34 had contacted the accused Patharaju and paid him 6 lakh after he promised to get access to the hidden treasure through his source .
The accused started avoiding the deceased even after many deadlines following which the trio threatened to file a complaint with the police .
Enraged by this the accused roped in a gang of college drop outs and unemployed youth in his area offering them three kilos of gold as supari and called the deceased to come and get the treasure .
The trio borrowed the car of their friend and reached Beeranakallu foot hill coming under Kora police station limits where the accused armed with deadly weapons waited for them.
As soon as the trio reached the accused attacked and hacked them to death carried the bodies in their car to Kucchangi lake bed area and set fire to the car.
A team of police led by Superintendent of Police Ashok KV identified the accused from the car registration number and later track down the accused .
The police are further investigating to ascertain Patharaju’s criminal background .
