Bengaluru city police have arrested a man, Rajesh Kumar (26), along with three others on Saturday for allegedly murdering his father, Paneer Selvam, 52, a resident of Ramamurthy Nagar. This came after the police had initially started a probe thinking it was a kidnapping case.
Paneer Selvam was forcibly put in a car on Friday morning while he was on his way to a nearby temple on Friday morning at around 6.30 am, according to his wife.
The Times of India reported that the murder was carried out on the instructions from the deceased’s son, as he was denied financial help from his father for a new venture. Paneer Selvam’s wife P Rani had filed a missing person’s complaint with the police on Friday evening. Police said that Rajesh had also suspected his father of having an affair and that he was ‘making lavish expenses’ for her.
Speaking with The Hindu, a policeman probing the case said it became clear that the father-son duo had an uneasy relationship and they used to often have arguments over property and other issues. It was during the interrogation, police claimed that Rajesh confessed to giving Rs 10 lakh to the hitmen to get his father killed. Police further said that he had even paid an advance of Rs 3 lakh to one of the three others, Parthiban (29). The two others are Stanley, 25, and Anand, 21.
While all the three are Bengaluru residents, Parthiban hails from Vellore in Tamil Nadu.
After arresting the three, police have been successful in recovering Paneer Selvam’s body from a eucalyptus grove in Kolar. Selvam was reportedly killed after the trio had injected him with poison after they abducted him.
Police further said that this was not the first time that the trio were hired to attack Paneer Selvam. In March, the same men had allegedly hit him with a wooden plank but on that occasion, he was able to recover from the injuries.