Bengaluru. JUNE 22,
More than 18 hours after they were alerted that a businessman had shot his wife on Thursday evening and fled with their three children, the Jayanagar police tracked down and arrested the accused, Ganesh H.K., in Ramanagara district on Friday afternoon. However, by the time they were able to trace his whereabouts, the father had shot two of his children.
“We found his 12-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter lying in the back seat of the car with bullet injuries,” said the police. The oldest child, who is 15 years old, was in a state of shock.
The accused Ganesh, a planter from Sakleshpur and owner of a resort in Kanakapura, had allegedly shot his wife Sahana, 42, with a licenced revolver multiple times in their house at Jayanagar fourth block on Thursday afternoon.
He is then believed to have got into his car with his eldest child, who was at home, picked up the other two children from school and headed towards a resort in Banagiri, Ramanagara district, which he owns.
The police tracked him down to Banagiri by Friday afternoon. After a chase, they intercepted his car and arrested him.
‘He was planning to kill his family and himself’
Ganesh H.K. owned coffee plantations in Sakleshpur, but sold his property to set up a real estate business in Bengaluru. According to the police, he had incurred a huge loss and was in debt. “He told us that when money-lenders from whom he had taken loans at high rates of interest began demanding repayment, he decided to sell his remaining property. However, he claims, his wife objected, arguing that they had to keep something for their children’s future,” said a police officer.
In recent weeks, their arguments escalated, and on Thursday afternoon, Ganesh is suspected of opening fire at his wife. “He was planning to kill his children and himself too,” said the police.
Ganesh told the police that after killing his wife, he drove in his car with the children around the city to decide what to do. He allegedly decided to kill his children and end his life. The police suspect that he shot his 12-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter after leaving the resort. “Had we delayed tracking him down, he would had killed his children and then himself,” a senior police officer said adding, “We are waiting the medical reports to confirm the timeline of events.”
The Jayanagar police are probing further to ascertain the exact reason which led Ganesh to destroy his family.
Search leads police to resort in Banagiri
When Sahana’s father Nagraj Shankar, who lives in J.P. Nagar, was unable to reach his daughter on her phone on Thursday, he decided to visit her house in Jayanagar. He went to the house around 3.30 p.m. He entered using a duplicate key. He found his daughter lying in a pool of blood and the children missing. He immediately alerted his relatives and, with the help of neighbours, rushed Sahana to a hospital in Jayanagar where doctors declared her dead on arrival.
However, it was only by 6.30 p.m. that Jayanagar police were alerted about the incident. “We formed a special team to track Ganesh H.K. and the children. We had to find them as soon as possible as the accused was armed,” said a senior police officer.
Based on the car he was driving, the police began to track him down. “On Friday morning, we learnt that Ganesh was in a resort in Banagiri. But, by the time a team reached the spot, he had left the place.”
The police began searching the area, and intercepted Ganesh’s car a few kilometres away. “We overpowered the accused. Two of his children, who were in the back seat, were injured,” the officer added.
Ganesh has been arrested under Sections 302 and 307 of the Indian Penal Code, and also under the Arms Act.
The siblings are being treated in a private hospital on Kanakapura Road.
‘Children under observation’
The two children are under treatment in Astra Superspeciality Hospital in Konanakunte. The girl has undergone a surgery and is under observation in the ICU. Doctors conducted a four-hour surgery on her brother, who was severely injured.
Asked it the children are out of danger, hospital authorities said nothing can be said as of now. They will be under observation for the next 24 hours.
