A middle-aged couple were found murdered at an eatery run by them on Cottonpet Main Road on Wednesday morning. The dead are Pawan Kumar Sharma, 45, and Babita Devi, 40, natives of Uttar Pradesh.
Their five-year-old daughter Priya, who survived the brutal attack, was lying in a pool of blood with severe head injuries, alongside her parents inside the hotel.
She was apparently beaten with an iron rod. She was conscious and breathing when the murders were discovered. Police rushed her to Vani Vilas Hospital and later referred her to Nimhans where she is undergoing treatment in an intensive care unit. Her condition is said to be critical.
Sharma and Devi had been running Sri Mahalakshmi Veg Hotel for the past three years. The family stayed in two rooms attached to the hotel. Police have zeroed in on a suspect, Karthik, 26, a native of Assam, who was employed by the couple on Sunday.
Karthik, who also stayed with the couple, is absconding. Rakesh, who lived in a neighbouring lodge, said the couple opened the eatery around 7:30 am every day.
On Wednesday, he said, he came down to the hotel for breakfast at 9:30 am, but found its shutter partially open. He peeped in, and to his shock found the family of three lying in a pool of blood on the floor.
He immediately informed Krishnamurthy at Veda Travels next door, and Eshu Kumar Roy, a security guard at a neighbouring HDFC Bank ATM kiosk.
The two lifted the shutter only to find Sharma and Devi dead. They immediately called the police who rushed Priya to hospital. The couple were assaulted with an iron rod on their heads. Their bodies were later shifted to Victoria Hospital for autopsy. The police have recovered an iron rod from the scene of crime.
According to the police, the murders might have taken place in the early morning hours on Wednesday, as the child was still breathing and conscious.
Deccan Herald visited the spot and found a newspaper and sachets of milk delivered in the morning lying inside the hotel.
Krishnamurthy told this paper, “The couple never closed the hotel even once in the past three years. Only once in a month they did a half day on Sunday when they went to a temple in Nelamangala.
“They had no visitors. Sharma was a jovial person, but he kept to himself. The couple were doing a roaring business. They were known for their delicious North and South Indian food and labourers from North India thronged the eatery in hordes.” Cottonpet Police are investigating.