Realtor decided on suicide pact to ward off lenders

H K Ganesh, the Jayanagar realtor who shot and killed his wife and two children and drove around the city outskirts with his elder son, had discussed the suicide pact in detail with his wife following pressure from money lenders.

“Both of us (husband and wife) decided to end our lives and those of our children. The plan was that I shoot my wife, then the children and finally myself,” Ganesh (49) said in his confession.

The incident took place on June 21 and according to his statement recorded in the charge sheet, the plan was decided a week earlier. They had planned to write a will as there was too much pressure from banks and moneylenders.

They estimated their property to be worth Rs 75 crore and their debt was Rs 50 crore. But there were no takers for their property due to demonetisation. Ganesh had invested crores in forming layouts and villas but the projects froze as many who promised to invest in the business withdrew after the note ban. At the other hand, those who had lent him money, started pressuring him.

Ganesh fired three rounds at his wife Sahana at their house in Jayanagar 4th Block around 1 pm. He took his mentally challenged son Namith (15), who was at home, to pick up his second son Siddharth (13) and adopted daughter Sakshi (9) from school and left for their Woods Resort on Kanakapura Road.

In the charge sheet, he said he reached the resort around 3 pm. He spent three hours with his children. After his in-laws started calling him, he realised that they had learnt about his wife’s death. He shot Siddharth four times and thrice at Sakshi at the resort.

By the time the police traced Ganesh, who was driving around in his SUV near Bidadi at 9 pm, the children were bleeding and unconscious. Had the police not traced him, he would have killed his elder son and himself, since six live bullets were seized from his pocket.

Ganesh is lodged at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison. The Jayanagar police filed a charge sheet before I ACMM last week.

The investigation revealed that on the day Ganesh shot his wife, he received multiple calls and messages from 12 of his financiers who abused him and demanded that he repay the loans.

An engineering graduate, Ganesh married Sahana in 1996. He then started a construction business and until 2005, made good profits. In 2006, he bought 102 acres of coffee plantations in Sakleshpur for Rs 4 crore and spent another Rs 60 lakh on them. Later, he had raised a loan of Rs 9.8 crore to buy land at Kanakapura to build Woods Resort. He had hired around 50 staffers there but was unable to manage it efficiently.

Over the past three years, he had invested in construction projects with loans from many people. After demonetisation, he got no investors or buyers for his villas and sites. The family then drew up the suicide pact when they realised they couldn’t repay the loans.

Both the injured children have recovered and are now living with Sahana’s parents.

‘Operation Kamala’ link

Ganesh said in his statement that he had taken a loan of Rs 2 crore from Narve Somashekar alias Gym Soma at 15.5% interest. Under pressure from Soma to repay the loan, Ganesh transferred the 102 acres of coffee plantations worth Rs 6 crore to him. Soma thus benefited by Rs 4 crore. Soma had contested from Sakleshpur on a BJP ticket but lost to the JD(S) candidate. Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had recently alleged that he was one of the kingpins behind the Operation Kamala at the behest of a leader.

High interest rates

Ganesh had availed loans from financiers at exorbitant interest rates. Since these transactions were on mere mutual trust, they were not legally binding. For instance, Ganesh said in his statement that he had taken a loan of Rs 50 lakh from a financier in JC Nagar. The money lender deducted Rs 6 lakh before giving him the loan and Ganesh has to pay a monthly interest of Rs 5 lakh.

Argument with wife

The CCTV camera footage collected by the police shows that before he fired at Sahana, Ganesh had a long argument with her. He had covered the revolver with a bedsheet to muffle the sound. She is seen scolding and gesturing at him. They argue for 45 minutes before he shoots her in the bedroom. The police, however, don’t have the footage of Ganesh firing at Sahana.