Shiny Kiran case: Wheelie student' in police net

Bengaluru: After over five days of hot pursuit, the Indiranagar traffic police on Wednesday arrested the 18-year-old accused, who had performed bike stunts on Old Madras Road on September 1 that led to the death of a college student, Shiny Kiran, who was riding pillion.

The accused, Kirtan Richie, is a student at JD Institute of Fashion Technology in D J Halli and son of D. Venkatesh, co-owner of Jive Pub in Indiranagar. Kirtan has been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which is punishable with up to 10 years of imprisonment.

Police have also arrested a 16-year-old minor and his father L. Chandra Shekhar a contractor, and booked them for abetment of suicide in this connection.
According to the police, Kirtan does not have a driving licence, but used to actively take part in performing dangerous stunts and wheelies on two-wheelers. He confessed to the crime and told police that he met Shiny for the first time on August 27 at a party in Love Shack, a pub in  Kormangala. They became friends and exchanged phone numbers and were in touch for the next 4-5 days on phone & WhatsApp.

On September 1, Kirtan picked up the girl from KFC Indiranagar and took her to Kasturi Nagar Park. On the way back near Gopalan Mall he suddenly did a wheelie. The girl fell and got run over by a mini truck that was following their two-wheeler. In order to save himself, Kirtan sped away without making any efforts to save Shiny.

The mini truck driver, Raghu D, also fled after abandoning the vehicle. However the police tracked him down after contacting the owner of the truck. He corroborated the fact that an unknown bike rider was performing a wheelie in front of his vehicle, which led to death of the girl.

As Kirtan’s bike did not have a registration number plate, the police checked the mobile phone call records of Shiny, where they came across a contact saved as ‘hubby’. They started tracking the number and zeroed in on Kirtan, who was arrested from his house at Jogupalya. Based on the statement given by mini truck driver, victim’s relatives and eyewitnesses, the Indiranagar traffic police made the arrests and remanded them to judicial custody.

According to the police, investigations revealed that Kirtan was obsessed with bikes and his father had bought him a Yamaha R 15 two years ago. He met with an accident in Hebbal in 2014 and since then he has been using his friends’ bikes to perform stunts. On September 1 the accused had borrowed the bike from his minor friend. Kirtan had helped him to buy that bike at the cost of '38,000 on August 31, in Thippasandra.