Ten rupees. That was the gap between what two customers owed and what they paid at a petrol bunk near Hanchinal Camp in Karnataka’s Raichur district, and by the next morning a 42-year-old man was dead.
Siasat reported that the trouble started when Mahesh and Nagaraj filled petrol worth Rs 110 into a bottle but handed over only Rs 100. The bunk staff asked for the remaining Rs 10. Voices rose. Deccan Chronicle put the time at around 8.35 pm on July 8, at an Indian Oil outlet in the village, and said Mahesh’s argument was with an employee named Ravi.
A bystander steps in
Meghnath had come to the bunk and, according to both outlets, tried to calm things down. He was a former member of the Gillesugur Gram Panchayat. Siasat said police told it that the staff then turned on him with wooden sticks. Deccan Chronicle added more detail from the police account: the men confronted him for interfering and threatened him, some of them allegedly used caste-related slurs, and then the beating began with wooden logs.
Veeresh allegedly struck Meghnath on the head with a log. Ravi is accused of hitting him on the head again. Narasimha allegedly attacked his back with another stick, and Meghnath collapsed unconscious. Mahesh and Nagaraj, who had also tried to step between the groups, were allegedly assaulted by the others.
Meghnath was taken to a hospital in Raichur. Doctors operated on his head between 5 am and 7 am on July 9, Deccan Chronicle reported. He did not recover and was declared dead at around 8.25 am.
Six arrests
Police arrested six men, all described as petrol bunk employees: Ravi, Veeresh, Narasimha, Mareppa, Ramesh and Praveen. The whole assault was recorded on the bunk’s CCTV cameras, Siasat said, and investigators combed through that footage and other evidence before making the arrests. The six were produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody.
The case was registered at Idapanur Police Station on a complaint from Meghnath’s wife. Deccan Chronicle said the charges fall under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including murder, along with relevant sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Raichur Superintendent of Police Arunangshu Giri credited scientific investigation and the CCTV footage for the swift arrests. He said the inquiry continues, with investigators still working to establish the exact sequence of events and what part each of the accused played.
Sources
- Petrol bunk row over Rs 10 ends in murder in Raichur
- Six Arrested For Killing Man Who Intervened In Petrol Bunk Brawl
