Pramesh S Jain
T
he 51st additional city civil and session court on Thursday convicted two people in a murder of 19-year-old youth over trivial row in J JJ Nagar in April 2022 which had taken a political twist following which the case was referred to Criminal Investigation Department for a detailed probe .
Though the CID had arrested three people and charged them under section 302 (murder),307 (attempt to murder),504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace),506,(criminal intimidation)and under Arms act, the court convicted the duo under section 304 (culpable homicide that not amounting to murder)sentencing them with seven years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹ 10,000 each.
The incident dated back to April 4, 2022,when Simon Raj, complainant in the case,accompanied by Chandru V,19, had gone to old Guddadahalli to have snacks on the occasion of his birthday at around 2.30 am .
The duo were riding bike collided with the accused bike which led to a heated argument.The accused Shahid Pasha called his friends for help who came to the spot armed with weapons and attacked the duo,while Simon Raj managed to flee and escaped the attack the accused stabbed Chandru and left him on the road bleeding .
The entire incident was caught on CCTV cameras where the accused armed with weapons attacking Chandru while he was pleading to let him go.Simon managed to return and shifted the profusely bleeding Chandru to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries .
The case had taken a political twist as the then ruling BJP leaders including the then home minister Araga Jnanendra stated that Chandru was killed because he could not speak Urdu, but later retracted from his statement .
Even though the jurisdictional police arrested three people in this case,considering the magnitude,the government handed over to the case to CID for a detailed probe .
The CID team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police, Nandakumar,conducted a detailed investigations and recovered over 30 people witness statements in the charge-sheet stating the murder was committed due to trivial row and even attempt to murder Simon Raj and issued death threats to him.
