A 17-year-old student of a private junior college in South Bangalore was shot dead in her hostel room, and her friend seriously injured, allegedly by a 35-year-old attendant of the college, on Tuesday night. Within hours of the shooting, the police tracked down the suspect to his sister’s house in East Bangalore where he had taken shelter after the attack. The victim of the shooting has been identified as R Gauthami, a native of Pavagada in Tumkur district who was studying in a second year pre-university class at Pragathi PU College located at Kadugodi in South Bangalore. Her friend and classmate Shirisha,who was injured critically, is undergoing treatment in an intensive care unit at Manipal Hospital in the city. The accused has been identified as Mahesh K, a resident of Dooravani Nagar. Following the arrest of the suspect, police seized a 9 mm countrymade pistol that they believed was used in the shooting. Police said the attack was a reaction to an altercation between the girl and the suspect. [related-post] “There were around 70 girls in the hostel. The attendant had an ego issue and insisted that the girls should listen to him. Gauthami objected to this and told him that he was only an attendant which enraged him. The college management failed to resolve the issue despite being aware of it. We have booked a case against them for negligence,’’ police commissioner M N Reddi said. He said investigations were on to find out how the attendant procured the pistol. According to the police, the incident occurred around 10 pm on Tuesday night while Gauthami was in her third floor hostel room. The accused Mahesh allegedly entered her room with the countrymade pistol and got into an argument. He then allegedly pulled out the gun and fired at the student’s head and neck from a close range. Gauthami’s close friend Shirisha who was in the next room heard the sound and rushed to the room. When she questioned Mahesh about what he had done, the suspect allegedly opened fire at Shirisha and ran away from the hostel. Thereafter, other students informed the college management about the incident and Gauthami was taken to the Vydehi Institute of Medical Science (VIMS) where she was declared dead. Senior police officers rushed to the scene and formed three teams to find the missing accused. One of the teams tracked him down to his sister Shailaja’s house in B Narayanapura on Wednesday afternoon and arrested him. Ramesh, Gauthami’s father, claimed that the college management initially told him that she had suffered a fall at the hostel. He added that he suspected something bigger behind her killing.
