Bengaluru police arrest serial killer who targeted ATM security guards

Crime

Two months after he escaped from police custody, the Bengaluru police nabbed Benki Raja for multiple murders in the city.

TNM Staff

The Bengaluru police on Sunday arrested a 28-year-old serial killer, who had escaped from police custody in April this year. After a two-month chase the Kumaraswamy Layout Police arrested Rajendra alias Benki Raja on Monday. The investigators in the Kumaraswamy Layout Police Station had initially arrested Benki Raja on April 4 this year in connection with the murder of a security guard in the area, which had occurred in March. At 4.22 am on March 24, the police control room received a call from a woman named Nischita, who had found the body of a security guard at the Karnataka Bank ATM near Uttarahalli. The police found that the security guard, 60-year-old Lingappa Davalagi’s head was smashed with a stone. The police had also found a bloodied stone outside the ATM, which they had suspected was the murder weapon. “The weapon was sent to the forensic science lab and the blood matched the security guard’s,” the police said. During the investigation, the police came across the CCTV footage of Benki Raja carting a stone around and walking towards the same ATM on the morning of the murder. Soon, the police tracked him down and arrested him on April 4. “We had taken him for a medical exam and he escaped from police custody,” the police said. Upon his arrest on Monday morning, the police have unraveled a series of killings which Benki Raja is suspected to have committed. Police say that Rajendra allegedly set his younger sister on fire and killed her at the age of eight, thereby earning him the moniker Benki (fire) Raja. Five years ago, he was arrested by the Basavanagudi Police in a drug possession case. The Basavanagudi Police say that he was in possession of cocaine and was lodged in the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison for four years. In 2018, Benki Raja was released and his first victim was allegedly a security guard at an ATM in Basavanagudi Police Station limits. “There is a murder case registered against him. In that case too, he had smashed a security guard’s head with a stone, while he was asleep inside the ATM. The Next case was in the Konanakunte Police Station limits. Here too, he smashed a sleeping security guard’s head with a stone. In both these cases, he had stolen their mobile phones, sold them and used the money to purchase drugs,” an investigating officer said. Benki Raja’s third victim was the 60-year-old Lingappa Devalagi. He allegedly attempted to kill another ATM security guard in JP Nagar days after killing Lingappa. “He tried smashed the security guard’s head with a stone in JP Nagar. But the guard was taken to the hospital on time by one of the beat constables, who was patrolling the streets. He survived. He described the man to the police and that’s when we knew that it was Benki Raja,” the police said. The Kumaraswamy Police have also registered another case of attempted murder against Benki Raja with the Puttenahalli Police Station. On April 4, when Raja escaped police custody, he allegedly tried to kill the head constable, who was chasing him down. “Our head constable was chasing him when he escaped from the hospital. He smashed our head constable on the head with a stone. He was bleeding profusely and we rushed him to the hospital. He survived the attack. After his arrest, we are now looking to see if he has committed similar murders in other areas in the city,” the Kumaraswamy Layout Police said. Benki Raja has been booked for murder in Basavanagudi, Kumaraswamy Layout and Konanakunte Police Stations. He has also been booked for attempted murder in the JP Nagar Police Station.    

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