BENGALURU: A Kalaripayattu trainer and his wife were arrested on charges of killing a food delivery agent in a road rage incident on Oct 25.Manoj Kumar (32) from Kerala, and his wife Aarati Sharma (30) from Jammu & Kashmir, had married five years ago. Police accused the couple of deliberately murdering food delivery agent Darshan (24) by ramming their car into his gearless scooter in a fit of rage. The couple was produced before a local court Wednesday and sent to 14-day judicial custody.Also read: Delivery boy crushed to death in Bengaluru: CCTV video shows how couple chased, murdered him with car
Darshan, a bachelor and resident of Kembattalli, is survived by his parents and sister.Police investigations revealed that Darshan’s scooter had brushed against Kumar’s car around 9pm on Oct 25 at Nataraja Layout, slightly damaging its right-side rear-view mirror. Darshan apologised but sped away as he was going to a customer’s place along with his pillion rider.An investigating officer said Kumar grew angry over the incident. “Losing control of himself, he took a U-turn and chased Darshan’s scooter. In a few minutes, he spotted Darshan. Pressing the accelerator, Kumar rammed the car into Darshan’s scooter from behind and sped away. Both Darshan and Varun fell onto the road.”
Locals, who saw the two youths writhing in pain, shifted them to a hospital, but the doctors declared Darshan brought dead.Darshan’s sister filed a case of hit and run with JP Nagar traffic police against an unknown car driver. A team of JP Nagar traffic police collected CCTV footage from the accident site. “To our horror, we discovered that it was not an accident but an intentional act of dashing into Darshan’s scooter from behind. The driver suddenly veered to the left, dashed into the vehicle, and sped away, suggesting it was intentional,” a senior traffic police officer explained.Jurisdictional Puttenahalli police were informed, and a fresh case of murder was registered.CCTV footage also revealed that the accused couple returned to the accident site around 9.40pm in their four-wheeler and parked it a little distance away from the site. “The couple, wearing masks, was seen collecting parts of the car that had come off while ramming the scooter. The couple then drove back and this time, their faces were clearly visible,” a senior police officer said.Deputy commissioner of police (South), Lokesh Jagalasar, said the couple was after the duo confessed to the crime.Another investigating officer said Kumar claimed he was alone at the time of ramming Darshan. He said his wife only accompanied him to collect the broken parts of the car. “However, we will examine his claim. As of now, we have arrested both on murder charges,” he said.Police investigation revealed that the couple came back to the accident spot to collect the parts of the that had come off while ramming, and CCTV cameras caught their faces.
