A 42-year-old advocate was shot dead during a dispute over unpaid rent in Bengaluru’s Pattandur Agrahara area, within the Whitefield police station limits, late on Sunday night, police said. Two men who lived in a rented shed on land owned by the lawyer have been detained for questioning in connection with the killing.
The deceased was identified as Manjunath, a resident of Pattandur Agrahara. Police said he owned between two and three acres of vacant land in the area, where sheds had been constructed and rented to workers from Assam, Bihar, Odisha and other parts of north India. The monthly rent for each unit ranged from ₹5,000 to ₹8,000.
According to the police account reported by Prajavani, four men, including Amit alias Ankit Dubey and Pawan Dubey, had been living in one shed. The four, who worked as delivery workers, had allegedly not paid rent for four months. Manjunath and the tenants had argued over the issue several days before the shooting.
Police said Manjunath went to the tenants’ home at about 10.30 pm on Sunday to discuss the unpaid rent. At around 11.30 pm, the suspects allegedly arrived near Manjunath’s house on a motorcycle used for Swiggy deliveries and called him outside. They reportedly handed over money, and when Manjunath began counting it, one of them allegedly fired three rounds from a country-made pistol, striking him in the forehead and chest.
The two men fled after the shooting, police said. The other two youths who lived in the shed were away at work on the night shift when the incident took place. After hearing the gunshots, Manjunath’s wife came out of the house and found him lying in a pool of blood. With help from local residents, she took him to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead, according to the police.
Amit Dubey, who works as a delivery worker, is among those being questioned. Police have not yet established the identity of the second man involved, according to the report. Investigators are also examining the sequence of calls and the alleged handover of rent before the shooting.
Manjunath’s family had rented out around 50 sheds, with a person named Shivu handling the collection and payment of rent. Police said Shivu had travelled to his hometown, after which the tenants reportedly said they would bring the rent directly to the house. Manjunath’s brother Muniraju told Prajavani that there was no land dispute and that the attack appeared to have taken place while his brother was counting the money.
The Whitefield police are continuing to question the detained men and investigate the killing. Further action will depend on the evidence collected in the case.
