An attempt to get his professional rival killed backfired on the owner of a private school as the Doddaballapura police on Thursday arrested a gang of six.
They tried to kill Nageswara Rao, a former teacher in the school run by the accused, Ramachandra Reddy. On May 16, they attacked Rao after intercepting his vehicle near Hesaraghatta, and fled thinking he was dead. But Mr. Rao survived with injuries and filed a complaint before getting himself admitted in a private hospital.
The police tracked down the accused based on CCTV footage and call record details and arrested Srinivasamurthy, 37; Venkatesh, 29, a real-estate agent; Yogesh, 27, and Adarsha, 20, employees with a bakery; Nagesh Kumar, 24, a cab driver; and Veerabhadra, 29, a roadside push cart vendor from Hesaraghatta.
The accused confessed that they took up a contract for ₹15 lakh from Ramachandra Reddy to kill Nageshwara Rao. The accused claimed that they were given some advance amount and were assured that the rest would be paid after the completion of the job.
The accused told the police that Rao was earlier working as a teacher at Reddy’s RC School and resigned last year to start his own school. Rao, through is popularity, managed to pull many students from his previous school to his new school under the banner HSNL School.
Enraged by this, Reddy plotted to eliminate Rao and engaged his contact Srinivasamurthy to find people to do the job. Srinivasamurthy, who was in dire need of money, agreed to carry out the job for him and set up a gang.
Based on the statement, the police are now on the lookout for Reddy. The police are also searching for another accused, Mohan, who was part of the murder plot, a senior police officer said.
