BENGALURU: A lawyer was shot dead by two of his tenants on the pretext of paying rent at his house at Pattandur Agrahara in Whitefield police limits around midnight on Monday. Both the accused, Pankaj and Anil Dubey, have been taken into custody and are being questioned.
Preliminary investigation revealed that Pankaj Dubey and Anil Dubey, who work as delivery agents, were living in a house belonging to the lawyer Manjunath and there was some dispute over timely payment of rent. An altercation over the issue escalated on Sunday night and the accused shot Manjunath to death.
Manjunath’s elder brother Muniraju said, “He was killed by Anil Dubey and Pankaj Dubey. Manjunath, who was on second floor was called outside and shot in the temple at point blank range. While one was handing over the money, the other came from behind and shot Manjunath. Before we could come outside after hearing the sound, the killers escaped. Manjunath did not want online payment and had asked for rent in form of cash. They came as if to give cash and killed him”.
Manjunath’s nephew Akshay said, “The accused came in two bikes, killed Manjunath and fled. They were working as delivery boys for online platforms and were tenants in Manjunath’s house since last one year”.
The CCB team visited spot where lawyer Manjunath was murder on Monday morning. Whitefield DCP Saidulu Adavath said, “The incident occurred between 11.30 pm on Sunday and 12 am on Monday. There is information that there was an altercation over the rent issue. The two persons apparently said they will give rent in cash, came near Manjunath’s house and fired from a gun. The lawyer’s family admitted him to a hospital, but he died after one hour. After the death, information was given to the police”.
“We are investigating how the accused got a gun and whether there was any altercation earlier. We are investigating more about background of accused. We also have to establish the motive for the murder. Earlier, we did a special drive on the same sheds and nothing was found at that time”.
The accused Pankaj and Anil Dubey hail from Bihar and came to Bengaluru in search of work. They were harassing by not paying rent and for this reason, Manjunath had scolded them on phone on Sunday. Later, the accused had came to Manjunath’s house to give rent and fired at Manjunath from a country-made pistol. Manjunath and his wife were at home at that time.
