Bengaluru: Police nab serial killer who targetted security guards

Bengaluru: A 28-year-old psycho serial killer who had escaped from police custody in April this year has been arrested by the Kumarswamy Layout police on Monday.

The accused Rajendra alias Benki Raja targeted only security guards at the ATMs and was involved in multiple murders. He was arrested by the Kumarswamy Layout police on April 4 this year in connection with a murder of a security guard at an ATM on March 24.

It may be recalled that a 60-year-old Lingappa Davalagi who was guarding Karnataka Bank ATM near Uttarahalli was brutally murdered by smashing his head with a stone. Later the police during the investigation came across the CCTV footage of Benki Raja carting a stone around and walking towards the same ATM on the morning of the murder following which he was shot at and arrested. Later, he escaped from the police custody and was arrested only after two months.

He was first arrested for possessing drugs by the Basavanagudi police five years ago and was lodged at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison for four years. In 2018, Rajendra was released and his first victim was allegedly a security guard at an ATM in Basavanagudi Police Station limits.

The Next case was in the Konanakunte Police Station limits. Here too, he smashed a sleeping security guard’s head with a stone.

The recent murder case he was involved in was of Lingappa Devalagi. The modus operandi in all the murder was same, smashing the head of security guards who were asleep. He stole their money and mobile phones and sold them to purchas drugs.

Benki Raja has been booked for murder in Basavanagudi, Kumaraswamy Layout and Konanakunte Police Stations. He has also been booked for attempted murder in the JP Nagar Police Station.

Police say that Rajendra allegedly set his younger sister on fire and killed her at the age of eight, thereby earning him the moniker Benki (fire) Raja.