BENGALURU: Less than 24 hours after 22-year-old Vishwanath, an undertrial, was shot dead by commandos after a three-hour holdup in Nimhans on Sunday evening, Deccan Chronicle visited his house at P&T Quarters in Kaval Byrasandra in R.T. Nagar.
On the balcony of the first floor house, Vishwanath’s 15-year-old brother, Shankar (name changed on request), who is also mentally ill, sat waving at passersby completely unaware of his elder brother’s death. Vishwanath lived in this house, a government owned apartment, with his mother and brother. The mother, Bhagyamma, a widow, works at BSNL to support her family.
One of their neighbours said, “We know them for the last 15 years. They have been living here since the death of Vishwanath’s father, Channappa, who was also a government employee. The family never mingled with anyone. Vishwanath roamed alone and never tried to make friends.”
Other neighbours said that Vishwanath got addicted to drugs at a young age and was seen roaming the streets late into the night. He would quarrel with neighbours who tried to speak to him. “The younger brother was fine till he fell from the balcony and sustained a critical head injury. His mental condition began to deteriorating since then,” said a neighbour.
“Not many in the area know that the man who was shot dead by the commandos at Nimhans on Sunday was Bhagyamma’s son. We don’t want anymore trouble for her as she is a single mother who is running her family on her own,” said a neighbour. She got her job in BSNL on compassionated grounds after her husband’s death.
