BELAGAVI: Two people were chased and brutally hacked to death, allegedly over old rivalry, at Sulebhavi village in Belagavi taluk on Thursday. The attackers had even thrown chilli powder into the eyes of their victims before killing them.
The victims have been identified as Ranadheera alias Mahesh Murari (26) and Prakash Hunkari Patil (28), both from Sulebhavi. Their bodies were found in front of the Ganapathi temple near the Shivaji Maharaj statue at Lakshmi Galli in Sulebhavi about 100 mt apart.
The incident occurred around 9 pm on Thursday and some of the shocked villagers locked their houses and went to their relatives’ places.
Mahesh Murari had served a two-year jail term in the murder case of Nagesh Myakalyagola of the same village in 2019 and had been released recently.
As a precautionary measure, the police have deployed a KSRP platoon in the village. A case has been registered at the Marihal police station. The bodies were handed over to the families after post-mortem.
On Friday, Belagavi SP Dr Boralingaiah said a group of 6-7 people had attacked the duo and six people have been arrested so far.
“I have visited the spot and investigation is been overseen by Additional SP Girish and the Marihal police inspector. The victims and the attackers belong to the same community and some of them are even said to be distant relatives. It seems to be a case of personal rivalry as, 2-3 days ago, there was some trouble between the two groups over some minor issue”, he said.
The SP further siad that all were together for the last 2-3 years and would even make violent reels for social media. “Mahesh Murari is believed to have had links with the Tiger gang of Gokak and we are investigating this too”, he added.