Man stabs friend to death in fight over cigarette

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: One person died while two others were injured in a brawl between friends that took place near the Majestic area in the city on Thursday evening.

The deceased was identified by the police as Mallinath Biradar, 34. The injured persons Manjunath Reddy, 37, Eshwar, 40, and an auto-rickshaw driver from the city, Raja, are currently being treated at the Victoria hospital here. The incident took place around 6 pm in the busy area under Upparpet police station limits.

According to sources, initially, the passerby who witnessed Biradar being repeatedly stabbed by an armed assailant tried to intervene but were also attacked with a knife in the process. Thinking that the assailant was mentally-ill, a few people alerted the police control room about the incident, after which a team of Upparpet police arrived to take control of the situation.

Biradar died on the spot and the police nabbed the assailant. After a spot inspection and interrogation of the accused, the reason for the attack was ascertained by the police. On Friday, the police said that Mallinath Biradar, Manjunath Reddy, Eashwar and Ganesh were friends and had taken up jobs as caterers in the Majestic area.

"On Wednesday, the friends had a heated argument after Ganesh asked Biradar and Reddy to buy him a cigarette. On Thursday evening, the friends again started fighting over the same topic while sitting near Ganesh temple," sources from the police told News Trail.

Ganesh allegedly took out a knife and stabbed Mallinath. When the other friends attempted to stop him, he attacked them too. An auto-rickshaw driver tried to help Mallinath and was injured in the process. A case was registered at the jurisdictional police station regarding the incident.