Published Nov 07, 2022 | 11:12 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 07, 2022 | 11:13 AM
Senior police officers at the crime scene (Supplied).
The death of a retired Intelligence Bureau (IB) official in Mysuru in Karnataka is being treated as murder, with a property row being considered a motive.
RN Kulkarni, 82, was killed when a sedan knocked him down while he was on his evening walk in Sharadadevinagar in Mysuru on Friday, 4 November.
Based on the Mysuru police commissioner’s instruction, the Jayalakshmipuram police have formed three teams and have picked up three people for questioning.
They suspect the murder happened over a property-related row involving the former intelligence official’s neighbours, the police said.
Though the police initially considered it a case of accidental hit-and-run, a detailed probe and verification of the CCTV footage of the incident led them to treat it as a case of murder.
RN Kulkarni, the Intelligence Bureau (Retd) official (Supplied).
After all, the car appeared to have come all of a sudden into the narrow lane where only two-wheelers and pedestrians were seen more often, and it did not have a registration number plate, the cops said.
According to them, Kulkarni was on his routine evening walk — having left his car and driver some distance away.
Kulkarni started walking on the road — in the Manasagangotri campus of Mysuru University — connecting the Computer Science block to the post office on the campus.
The narrow road is behind the Law Department building, and the fact that the car was seen speeding before it hit the victim and then not stopping after the incident, prompted the police to look into it as a case of murder.
The entire incident was caught on the CCTV camera of a neighbouring building, and the police have collected it as evidence.
A few passers-by informed his driver, who was waiting nearby, that Kulkarni had been knocked down by a car and that he was lying unconscious on the roadside.
The driver immediately informed his family members and rushed him to the nearby Kamakshi Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.
Initially, the VV Puram traffic police, who visited the spot, conducted a spot mahazar and registered a case of hit and run. However, as the police team started probing further and analysing the CCTV footage, the incident seemed deliberate.
The police said that the car was seen speeding up even as it approached what must have appeared to be a pedestrian on the side of the road.
The car was also seen steering towards the side Kulkarni was walking even though he was trying to avoid being hit.
Moreover, the car — a Honda Accord that did not have registration plates, both front or back — did not stop after the accident and also entered the SJCE campus, where no outside four-wheeler usually enters.
“The car’s rearview mirror — which broke on impact and was found at the spot after the incident — was picked up as evidence. We suspect that the car exited the campus from either the Hunsur Road side or the Bogadi Road side,” said the cops.
They analysed CCTV footage of the same car from nearby areas and confirmed that it had no registration number either on the front or on the back.
According to the police, Kulkarni was constructing a house and there was a dispute involving him and his neighbour over alleged encroachment into this neighbour’s premises.
“We have taken a complaint based on what Kulkarni’s family members said. They have alleged that they suspect the neighbours had a role to play in the incident. Investigations are underway into that angle,” said Chandragupta, the city police commissioner of Mysuru.
Police sources said Kulkarni retired from the IB 22 years ago, and he had no enemy — professionally or personally.
However, the construction of his house on the Manasagangothri premises seemed to have earned him some enmity.
The Jayalakshmipuram police said the incident seemed to have been executed by professional criminals who had kept a watch on Kulkarni for some time.
