Scientist done to death, wife assaulted

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, JULY 26. An armed gang murdered a 67-year-old scientist, assaulted his wife, causing her grievous injuries, and robbed them of Rs.25,000 in cash at their house located on the outskirts of the City on Thursday afternoon.

The culprits killed Mr. G.N.Chandrashekar, a retired automobile scientist of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), by slitting his throat with a sharp weapon. His wife, Ms. Padmaja (60), also a retired scientist of the CSIR, was hit all over the head with an iron pound. A seriously injured Ms. Padmaja is battling for her life at NIMHANS.

The incident took place at the couple's house located at Subashnagar, opposite Garden City College, on Old Madras Road, falling under Hoskote Police limits.

Police said that the couple's son, Prof. G.C.Krishna Murthy, who teaches English at the Garden City College, came home at about 1.30 p.m. When his parents did not open the doors even after he rang the bell, he went to a side-door, which also leads to the staircase, and found blood stains there.

As Prof. Murthy entered the house, he found his father lying dead in a pool of blood in a bedroom. In the adjacent room, his mother was lying unconscious in a pool of blood gasping for breath.

Prof. Murthy immediately called his college authorities who in turn informed the police. The K.R.Puram Police, who rushed to the spot, alerted the Hoskote Police as the spot of crime did not fall under their jurisdiction.

The culprits while fleeing had left behind a pair of slippers at the house. Sniffer dogs, which were pressed into service, lost scent after reaching an autorickshaw stand at a slum located near the Garden City College. Police found a slipper at the slum.

The floors of Mr. Chandrashekar's entire house, including the kitchen, were stained with blood. Stains of blood found at a sink and the toilet pointed that the assailants had washed their hands before escaping. They had also wiped their blood-stained hands with the door curtains.

The criminals had probably killed Mr. Chandrashekar and attempted to murder his wife with the intention of preventing the couple from identifying them, police said.

At about 1.15 p.m., Ms. Padmaja was having her lunch at a neighbour's house where a house-warming ceremony was on. When Mr. Chandrashekar, who had gone out, came there, his wife told him that she would return home after finishing her lunch.

Mr. Chandrashekar went to his house and within a few minutes Ms. Padmaja followed him. Subsequently, the couple may have been attacked, police said.

According to the jurisdictional Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr. U.M.Muddaiah, the most mysterious aspect of the whole incident was how the culprits had gained entry to the house as the couple normally did not open the doors to strangers and also the main door was found locked from inside.

According to police, a carpenter who was working opposite the house said that he left the place at about 1.30 p.m. to have his lunch and did not see any strangers entering the house till then. Four students of Garden City College, who live in the first floor of the house, said that they did not hear any screams and were unaware of the incident untill Prof. Murthy raised an alarm.

The gangsters had not ransacked the house but had only taken away the cash that was in a wooden cupboard, police said.

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