The city police cracked the murder case of city-based boxer Santosh Kumar and arrested five persons in connection with the case here on Wednesday.
The arrested have been identified as N Sekhar (25), S Venkatesh (25), A Durga Rao (27), R Ashok Reddy (27) and A Kanaka Raju (32). Santosh was stabbed to death on Oct. 1 by the five accused at KRM Colony.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone I) K Fakeerappa, a small dispute between Santosh and the other gang members who hail from Seethammadhara area led to his murder.
On Sept. 30 afternoon, Santosh's uncle Mani had a dispute with Sekhar, and in retaliation Santosh had gone to Sekhar and had warned him. This irked Sekhar and he along with his gang members decided to eliminate him, said ACP (Dwaraka Zone) Ramachandra Rao.
After coming to know that Santosh would come for Durga idol immersion at Seethammadhara, Sekhar along with other four others reached the pandal area and lay in wait.
According to Mr. Ramachandra Rao, the victim and one of his friends consumed alcohol at a wine shop and were coming in an auto-rickshaw to the pandal.
Noticing them, the five accused stopped the auto-rickshaw. When Santosh got down from the auto to confront them, he was pinned down by two of the accused and Shekhar allegedly stabbed him 18 times with a sharp butcher knife.
The ACP said a home guard was on duty nearby and rushed to the spot, where the gang members threatened him by brandishing the knife and later fled. Among the five accused, Venkatesh has several cases against him.
Cases have been booked and the accused will be sent to remand.
