BENGALURU: A birthday party turned tragic for an Indiranagar based family when two brothers got into a fight over the issue of settling the bill and the elder one died after sustaining head injuries on Friday night. The deceased has been identified as Allan Gerald, 27, a call centre employee.
His younger brother and the accused has been identified as Santhosh Antony, a ground staff at the coach manufacturing division of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL). It was their sister Julie’s birthday. Their cousin Chris Clinton had filed the complaint, police added.
Police said the family and their close relatives had gone to a pub in Richmond Town to celebrate the birthday. The incident happened between 11.15 pm and 11.30 pm while they were returning home after the party. The group reached the pub around 9.45 pm and started partying. After the party got over, one of their cousins paid the bill and came out. But when Santhosh Antony learnt about it he picked up a quarrel with Allan as to why he did not settle the bill.
The other cousins intervened and pulled them apart. They later hired an auto to reach their homes. Around 11.15 pm while they were going in an auto, Santhosh again started quarrelling with Allan. An annoyed auto driver dropped all of them near Richmond Town circle and left. This angered Santhosh further and he rained blows on Allan, who fell on to the footpath and received severe head injuries. He was rushed to St. Philomena’s Hospital, where he was declared brought dead by the doctors.
The hospital authorities alerted the police, who rushed to the spot and arrested Santhosh. The body was shifted to Bowring Hospital for post-mortem, after which it was handed over to the family members, the police said. The family resides at Michael Palya in Indiranagar and their father is an ex-service man. “Allan was getting ready to travel to California in a couple of months,” said a neighbour and a friend.
