Harish and Madhu, accused in SI Jagadish murder case after they were nabbed
Bengaluru: Madhu and Harish Babu, who are accused of killing Sub-Inspector S Jagadish and arrested by the Nagpur police, are expected to be brought to the city on Wednesday.
The accused duo, currently kept in the lock-up of the Sadar police station in Nagpur, were produced before a JMFC court in Nagpur on Wednesday. The Bengaluru Rural police took them to custody after the several legal formalities. Though the accused were expected to be flown to the city on Tuesday night, it got help up due to some technicalities. The police officers were not allowed to carry their firearms in the plane, police sources said.
IGP (Central Range) J Arun Chakravarthy said that the accused were taken into custody by the police team led by Bengaluru Rural SP Ramesh B, which rushed to Nagpur after his arrest on Monday night. “We have not yet questioned the accused duo so far. Once they are brought to the city, they will be questioned. It is not yet clear whether the pistol they snatched from SI Jagadish has been recovered. They will be questioned on every aspect related to the case once they are brought to the city,” he said.
Harish Babu: A master in giving a miss to cops
Harish Babu, who was arrested along with Madhu for killing SI Jagadish, has a notorious history of assaulting policemen and escaping from police custody. Sources said that Babu who was in Ballari police custody had given the slip to the police thrice before.
“In early 2007, he was brought to Bengaluru by Ballari police for a court hearing. While taking him back, he had managed to escape from Tumakuru bus station but was nabbed later.
“Again in August 2008, the Ashoknagar police, who were on the lookout for him in a theft case, received information that he was in Kamakshipalya. The police team managed to nab his aide Basavaraju, but Babu took out a knife and stabbed Head Constable Shivanna and escaped. However, he was arrested after four days near Nelamangala,” a source said.
In 2009, once again he escaped from the clutches of Tumakuru police, when he was brought to the city. He escaped from the KSRTC bus station in Majestic but was arrested again, the source added.
Wife, mother want accused to be killed in encounter
Despite the arrest of Harish Babu and Madhu, family members of the slain SI S Jagadish cannot let go of their anger. His wife and mother have said that the police should have killed both the accused and have appealed to the advocates not take up their cases.
Speaking to reporters at their house in T Dasarahalli on Tuesday, both the family members expressed that their lives were shattered with this one incident. Mr. Jagadish’s wife Ramya said “I really wish the accused were killed by the police in an encounter. If they come in front of me, I would kill them by stabbing like how they stabbed my husband. My husband would have not met such an end if the accused were killed by the police when they attacked the Tarikere inspector in February. The police should take the case seriously and ensure the accused get befitting punishment. They are not eligible to live... If they again come out on bail, they will attack some other people or policeman. So I request all the lawyers to not appear on behalf of them in the court.”
Jagadish’s mother, Kamalamma, said, “The police should have killed them so that it could have become a lesson to other criminals.” “No one should undergo the situation which is being faced by our family. We will never be happy in our life again,” she lamented.
From Nelamangala to Nagpur: The trail of the killers
Madhu and Harish Babu, were constantly shifting from one place to the other after the murder of PSI Jagadish on Friday around 12.30 pm.
Police sources said that immediately after the murder in Nelamangala, they went to their house near Peenya and got some cash from Madhu’s mother Thimmakka, and left for Chitradurga in a car. They reached Chitradurga in the night and after a brief halt, they boarded a bus to Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh and reached there by Saturday morning. From them, they again went to Mehboobnagar.
“By this time, they were already running short of money and called some of their relatives in Challakere in Chitradurga and requested for some funds. As the relatives agreed, they started from Mehboobnagar to Challakere the same night. By this time, we had learnt that Thimmakka had gone to Davanagere and she was nabbed there. Even the relatives, who were supposed to give them money, were also taken into custody. The accused duo reached Challakere on Sunday morning but they got to know that the police had already picked up their relatives. With no other option left, the same morning they left for Secunderabad and reached there by night,” a police source explained.
“From Secunderabad, they tried many options to get some money. Later, they again went to Kurnool and from there to Nagpur on Sunday midnight. At this point, a trap was laid using their contact Satish lodged in the Bengaluru central jail. He was asked to assure them that he would arrange money and accommodation in Kurnool through his friend. As we learnt that they were heading to Nagpur in a train, the Nagpur police were alerted. They formed three teams - crime branch police, railway police and the anti-terrorist squad police. As soon as the duo reached Nagpur railway station on Monday evening, they were caught by the Nagpur police. They had planned to come back to Kurnool in the next available train unaware of our trap,” the source revealed.
