Realtor arrested for wife's murder, attempt to kill kids

Bengaluru: A 49-year-old realtor shot his wife multiple times and killed her at their residence in Jayanagar over a property dispute on Thursday night. He also shot two of his three children, who are out of danger and are being treated at a city hospital.

After the murder, Ganesh H.K., fled in his SUV along with his children. After a massive manhunt, he was arrested after a few hours at Banagiri near Anchepalya in Ramnagar on Friday afternoon. The police found his younger son, 12, and the adopted daughter, 9, who were shot in the abdomen, lying in a pool of blood on the rear seat of his SUV. The elder son (15), who is said to be mentally unsound, was found in a state of shock.

Ganesh, a coffee planter from Sakleshpur and owner of a resort at Kanakpura, shot his wife Sahana (42) from his licensed revolver multiple times at their house in Jayanagar Fourth Block around 9.45 pm on Thursday. Soon after the neighbours heard the gunshots, they informed the police. By then, Sahana’s father Nagaraj, who had come from his J.P. Nagar residence, rushed her to Jayanagar Hospital, where the doctors declared her brought dead, the police said.

The Jayanagar and Kaggalipura police immediately launched a massive manhunt and sent out a message to their counterparts that the accused is armed and dangerous, and could pose a threat to his three children too. “When our team reached the Jayanagar house, the Fortuner SUV was missing and so were the three children,” a police officer said.

Tipoff leads to arrest
On Friday morning, the police got a tipoff that Ganesh was at a resort in Banagiri. Two relatives from the family and the probe teams set out to catch him. But by the time they reached there, Ganesh had vacated the resort. The police finally spotted his car a few kilometres away, near Ramanagar, which was parked on the roadside. “He had stopped the car to buy water for his son. The family members identified the car with Ganesh sitting inside,” a senior police official said. 

“While the elder son was sitting in the front seat, the two other children were on the rear seat with bullet injuries. They were rushed to a private hospital in Konakunte on Kanakpura Road,” he said.

Killed Sahana over property row
Ganesh told the police that he killed Sahana as she objected to his selling a property to pay off his debts. “Sahana wanted the property for their children’s future. They had a bitter fight, and Ganesh plotted to kill his wife and children. He also wanted to commit suicide,” the official said.

After the murder, Ganesh took his children in the car and drove around the city to decide what to do next. He finally decided to kill his children and later commit suicide. He shot his younger son and daughter and left them to bleed to death.

Sahana’s postmortem was conducted at KIMS Hospital. The 15-year-old elder son who was saved because of timely intervention of the police is in the custody of Ganesh’s brother.

The Jayanagar police have taken up a case of murder and attempt to murder at the Bidadi police station and are probing further to know the exact reason behind Ganesh’s crime.