The accused in police custody on Tuesday
A 21-year-old man was abducted and brutally murdered on the outskirts of the city after a row with a fellow cab driver went to extremes. Main accused Jayaram, along with cousins Pradeep (24) and Venkatesh (19), abducted Anand, took him to the outskirts in a cab and killed him on August 28.
Jayaram and Anand had fought earlier over cab routes allotted to them at the city-based company where they worked. Later, Anand and a few friends and beat up Jayaram and that did not go down well with him.
A humiliated Jayaram vowed revenge and sought help from his cousins to eliminate Anand. He then called a truce with the victim and convinced him to go along to Tumkur to see a car, which was for sale.
An unsuspecting Anand readily agreed and proceeded in his SUV to meet Jayaram, who was waiting with
his cousins near Marathalli bridge. While Jayaram drove towards Tumkur, Pradeep and Venkatesh strangulated Anand with a nylon rope and the trio dumped him into a pond thinking that he was dead.
Upon being thrown into the cold water, Anand was revived and attempted to flee, but Jayaram whipped out a knife and slit his throat and the body sank to the bottom of the pond. The crime came to light only after the police investigating Anand's disappearance, eventually turned up at Jayaram's door enquiring after the victim's mobile call details showed that he made a call to the accused. During interrogation, Jayaram confessed to murdering Anand and provided the police with the gory details of the crime. The Banashankari police arrested the trio and remanded them to judicial custody.