Gangster hacked to death in Bengaluru within hours of release from prison

The police are now investigating the roles of Madan’s associates, Wilson Garden Naga and Double Meter Mohan, in Mahesh’s killing. Naga and Mohan operate in south Bengaluru and Mahesh is believed to have emerged as a challenger to their dominance in resolving real estate disputes and their business, police sources said.

Mahesh was murdered around a km away from the Bengaluru central prison at around 9 pm on Friday, shortly after he was released on bail in one of the cases against him.

The police are also questioning Gopi, the driver of the Toyota Etios car in which Mahesh was picked up after he was released from prison. The car was waylaid by a gang that reportedly arrived in two Innovas and Mahesh was hacked to death on the street.

In July 2021, a gang of over a dozen people had hacked to death Madan N, 44, a financier and real estate dealer with alleged links to Naga. The police had named Mahesh as the main conspirator in the case and 16 others as accused.

The Jayanagar police said in their charge sheet that Madan’s murder had roots in his enmity with Mahesh and that Madan had once threatened to kill Naveen Kumar, an associate of Mahesh.

After he was arrested in the Madan murder case, the police had fired at Mahesh in an alleged encounter, injuring his leg, after he tried to flee during the investigation of a separate case.

Mahesh had been incarcerated for over a year in the Madan murder case and was released after the Karnataka High Court granted bail in February this year. His return to south Bengaluru had been celebrated by his associates but he soon returned to prison after being arrested in an old case.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-East) C K Baba said investigations were in progress to find the assailants in the Mahesh murder case. “We will be able to comment in the next 24 hours,” he said.

On July 11 this year, an east Bengaluru gangster, Kapil J alias Kapila, 36, was hacked to death in a busy public area on KHB Road in east Bengaluru at around 8 pm by two men wearing helmets. The murder that occurred outside a tea store was captured on mobile cameras by onlookers. According to the police complaint filed by Kapila’s brother Prem J, Kapila was employed as a cable network contractor.

The police investigation in the case led to the arrest of Shankar, Puneeth Kumar and Pavan Kumar within three days of the murder. The killing involved the award of a contract by two of the people named in the case and is linked to local real estate disputes, police sources said.

Kapila was one of the 28 accused in the October 2014 murder of the rowdy Nakra Babu in south-east Bengaluru. Babu was an accused in the July 2014 murder of the gangster Kavala alias Vijay Kumar in Tamil Nadu’s Hosur.