The city police on Friday arrested three youths who allegedly broke into the premises of Bommanahalli MLA Satish Reddy’s residence and set fire to two cars around 1.25 a.m. on August 12.
The arrested are unemployed youths and mostly vagabonds, all in their late 20s and residents of Garvebhavipalya, also in the Bommanahalli constituency. The trio reportedly confessed to the act and claimed they set fire to the cars out of a grudge against the MLA. One of those arrested had been to the MLA’s residence multiple times seeking some personal help, but was reportedly not let into the house.
According to sources, he told the police that this experience fuelled in him an anger against the MLA and his “riches”, and claimed he wanted to teach him a lesson. He suffered minor burns on his leg while setting fire to the cars.
Senior police officials said by analysing CCTV footage from several cameras from the area, they tracked down the trio wandering in the narrow bylanes around the MLA’s residence and finally fleeing after stealing a bike parked on a bylane. Incidentally, on Thursday morning, the bike owner registered a missing complaint as well.
The police found the bike parked on a bylane and kept watch for a few hours. They were able to nab two of the accused who came to retrieve the bike. They led the police to the third accused. Investigations have revealed that the arson was preplanned and the trio had bought a bottle of petrol from a nearby station, before going near the MLA’s residence.
