Police in Tavarekere arrested three people on Monday in connection with the murder of an RTI activist last week.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the main suspect, Pradeep Kumar T N, 33, a Taverekere resident, had a financial dispute with Venkatesh, 43, an RTI activist.
Pradeep allegedly hired 20-year-old Satish T C, a resident of Manjunathanagar in Taverekere, and 22-year-old Tejas Kumar, from ASB Layout in Yelachaguppe, to attack Venkatesh. Both have been arrested along with Pradeep.
Police are also investigating if the murder has anything to do with the RTI application filed by Venkatesh.
Ramanagar Superintendent of Police Girish S said Venkatesh had taken a loan from Pradeep and did not return it. “Pradeep wanted to teach him a lesson and attacked him,” he added.
An investigating officer said Venkatesh had borrowed Rs 10 lakh from Pradeep at 3 per cent interest. He paid Rs 30,000 in monthly interest for six months and refused to return the principal or pay further interest.
Venkatesh also allegedly threatened to report Pradeep for doing financing business and get him arrested. Pradeep learnt that Venkatesh was filing RTI complaints against government officers and was earning good money by means of extortion.
He repeatedly asked Venkatesh to return the money he lent. When Venkatesh refused, Pradeep asked the hired men to cut off his hand and leg.
Satish and Tejas accordingly sliced away Venkatesh’s right wrist and leg while attacking the latter. Sources also said Venkatesh had a dispute with the accused over a ‘Gomala’ land in Yelachaguppe, about which he filed an RTI application and got the documents.
Venkatesh underwent a surgery but died on Sunday. The trio told police they didn’t intend to kill him.