Date:23/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/23/stories/2006092324050300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Elders' murder: city police make little headway

LAW &ORDER Even after years, justice seems to be a far cry for many families who have lost their senior members, writes K.V. Subramanya

THE MURDER of three elderly women in quick succession has turned the focus on several such killings that have hit the headlines during the past few years.

In a span of seven days, Lakshmamma (73), Lalitha (66) and Sudha Sampath (57) were murdered at their houses and were robbed of their gold jewellery. While the police arrested two youths who allegedly killed Lakshmamma, they are yet to crack the other two murders.

The Bangalore police are yet to solve several sensational murders of senior citizens reported in the past. Even after years, justice seems to be a far cry for many families who have lost their senior members.

The trend of killing senior citizens, particularly those living alone, started towards the end of 2001. Four senior citizens Ramakrishnan in Ulsoor, Manjula in Basavanagudi, Jayalakshamma in Chamarajpet and Siddaiah, a retired KAS officer, in MICO Layout, were murdered during October-November 2001.

In February 2002, the police arrested five members of the Dandupalya gang who allegedly committed the murders. Despite the arrest of the Dandupalya gang, the killing of senior citizens continued and the police suspected that some absconding members of the gang could be behind some of these killings.

Though the police subsequently ruled out the Dandupalya gang's involvement in the killings, they are yet to arrest the culprits.

The highest number of senior citizens (as many as 19) were murdered in 2004 and only eight of theses cases have been solved.

While in some incidents the police established that the criminals had killed the elderly people with an intention of looting their houses, they have not been able to ascertain the motive behind the killing in several other cases.

Investigators are still groping in the dark in regard to the murders of H. Rajagopalachar (80), a retired teacher who was stabbed at his house in Basaveshwaranagar police station limits on February 22, 2002, and Keshava Prabhu (78), a retired employee of the Police Department who was strangled at his house in Nandini Layout on March 7, 2002.

The police are yet to trace the murderers of Delucie Vaz, Narasamma, Sarai Bai and Jayadevamma who were stabbed to death at their houses in Cubbon Park, Seshadripuram, Ulsoor and K.R. Puram police station limits respectively, almost four years ago.

Apart from these incidents, the twin murders of Meena Rasquinha (75) and her maid Prema Mary (65) in Ashoknagar (May 2001), Shankaraiah (90) and his daughter-in-law Padmaja in Vijayanagar (August 2001) and Nirmala (65) and her daughter Rajeshwari in Madivala (August 2002) have also remained unsolved.

The police have closed the cases and filed "C" report in the court in regard to these double murders.

Normally, they file the "C" report and close the case when the culprits are not traced for long.