BENGALURU: Ten days after RSS worker Rudresh, 38, was brutally hacked to death in broad daylight, the city police cracked the case by arresting four men. During interrogation, the accused reportedly confessed that they committed the offence as they could not stand Rudresh’s growing political clout.
The arrested have been identified as Mohammed Sadiq alias Mohammed Mazar, 35, of J.C. Nagar, who ran a two-wheeler repair shop in Shivajinagar, Mohammed Mujeebullah alias Moula alias Mujeeb, 44, of R. T. Nagar, Waseem Ahmed, 30, of Austin Town, and Irfan Pasha, 30, of Govindapura near K.G. Halli. Mazar was a two-wheeler mechanic while the other three were small-time real estate agents.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, city Police Commissioner N.S. Megharikh announced that traditional police work had paid off in cracking the case. “This was a blind case with not much clues. But special teams gathered specific inputs on the assailants and nabbed them. We are investigating to know whether the arrested were involved with any organisation and more people were involved.”
He said questioning of the accused revealed that they could not stand Rudresh’s growth politically and economically, and thought that he was causing trouble to other communities and decided to finish him off. Meanwhile, he said that it was Irfan Pasha who hacked Rudresh to death in a single stroke. “The assailants had divided the four-member team into two. Two of them - Mazar and Irfan – as striking team, while Mujeeb and Waseem – worked as security for them and followed them on another bike. While Rudresh was speaking to his friends, the assailants attacked him. While Mazar rode the bike, Irfan was riding pillion. The assailants managed to escape after the attack. All of them knew Rudresh,” Megharikh added.
CCTV footage
Sources said that the CCTV footage that captured the movement of Mujeeb and Waseem on a bike led the police to the killers. “Despite drawing the sketch of the assailants, it did not help us much. Even the CCTV footage was of no much help initially. As it was found that another bike was following the assailants bike in all the footage we got, we suspected that even the two on the second bike could be involved in the murder. As part of the probe, we tried to identify them. A constable and a local resident identified Mujeeb and he was picked,” an official said.
Fought with Mazar?
Another official revealed that a few months ago Rudresh had picked up a fight with Mazar, who ran the mechanic shop near the former’s house, over a trivial issue. “Rudresh had also reportedly assaulted Mazar and they were involved in quarrels later. This angle is being probed. Rudresh along with others had stopped transporting of cows to slaughter houses, making them think that he was interfering in the affairs of other community,” the official said.
Nobody was absconding
As the police were probing the case in all angles, the four lived a normal life as if nothing had happened. “They had planned the murder so meticulously that they did not even carry mobile phones when they executed the plan. Even after the murder, they did no go absconding and involved in their businesses as usual, giving no scope for suspicion,” a police source added.
