A retired Lance Naik was murdered in the city on Wednesday in Banaswadi police limits.
A 40-year-old retired Lance Naik, who was allegedly torturing his wife, was murdered by his father-in-law early on Wednesday. The deceased has been identified as Babu Reddy, a resident of Subbaiahnapalya in Banaswadi. Babu was bludgeoned to death by Mohan Reddy at the former’s house, police said.
Babu had served in the Army for nearly 15 years. He had also served at the ASC Centre in the city. He later took voluntary retirement around five years back and was working as a security officer with a security agency in Hulimavu. The couple’s son Chandrashekar Reddy is studying in 7th standard at a private school in Ramamurthy Nagar.
Babu Reddy is alleged to have been harassing his wife Kalpana Reddy over trivial issues and was also beating her and their son. Unable to bear the harassment, Kalpana had left home with her son and stayed at her brother Gopinath Reddy’s house at Tirupati. She later moved to another relative’s house in Gunjur.
At Gunjur, Kalpana’s parents called Babu Reddy and advised him not to harass their daughter. Assuring of taking care of her, Babu returned with his wife and son. Kalpana’s parents Mohan Reddy and Lakshmi Devi also came with their daughter. Babu Reddy was the younger brother of Lakshmi Devi and he married the latter’s daughter Kalpana in 1998, police said.
Meanwhile, after the disappearance of his wife and son, Babu had filed a missing person’s complaint with the Banaswadi police. After his wife returned, she went to the police station and recorded her statement.
On Wednesday, around 5.30 am, Kalpana and Babu had got ready to go to a temple. Lakshmi Devi, who was returning to her native in Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh, asked her brother Babu to give her the FIR copy of the missing complaint. Babu refused and started fighting with his sister and even assaulted his wife who tried to support her.
Unable to bear the harassment from his son-in-law, Mohan Reddy threw chilli powder into Babu’s eyes and bludgeoned him to death, police said. Police are now on the lookout for Mohan Reddy.