Tumakuru ex-mayor hacked to death

BENGALURU: A 38-year-old former mayor of Tumakuru City Corporation was hacked to death by a gang at a tea stall on the service road of Bengaluru-Tumakuru highway near Batawadi flyover on Sunday morning. Ravi Kumar H from Batawadi was elected to the council on a JD(S) ticket.
Police said Kumar was attacked by a gang of six to seven people who came in a tempo, which was later found abandoned 2km from the crime scene.Two flexes of a milk distributing unit, two machetes, chilli powder and two pairs of clothes were found in the vehicle.
The assailants repeatedly struck him on his head with lethal weapons and the skull was cracked open. His uncle Murthy, owner of the tea stall, alerted Kyatsandra police.
Kumar was a history-sheeter with seven criminal cases, including one for murder, registered against him at Kyatsandra police station. “We’ll probe all angles, including political rivalry and old enmity as he was a rowdy,” said B Dayananda, inspector general of police (central range).
Kumar was an autorickshaw driver before switching to real estate business. He was a close associate of former council member Batawadi Anjinappa, who was also hacked to death in 2010 by a gang over political rivalry.