B’luru cops act swiftly, arrest 3 in double murder case

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: In a swift action, the police officials tracked and nabbed three accused who were on the run after murdering two top executives of a tech firm in the city.

The prime accused was identified as Shabarish alias ‘Joker’ Felix, 27, a resident of Devarachikkanahalli, while his accomplices were identified as Santosh alias Santu, 26, and Vinay Reddy, 27, residents of Marenahalli and Rupena Agrahara of Bengaluru.

The police are also questioning Arun Kumar, the owner of Gnet Media on Bannerghatta Road, a competitor firm, to establish if he had given supari for the killing of executives of Aironics Media Private Limited.

Subramanyam Phanindra, the Managing Director and Vinu Kumar, the Chief Executive Officer of Aironics Media Private Limited, were brutally murdered by a former employee in Amruthahalli Police station limits around 4 pm on Tuesday.

The police said that the deceased were attacked with multiple weapons including a machete, sword and a small knife. It was revealed that Phanindra was earlier working with Arun Kumar in Gnet Media, on Bannerghatta Road.

Phanindra and Vinu were looking after the complete affairs of the company. Later Phanindra started Air-on Aeronics Media Private Limited at Pampa Extension in 2022 and many from Gnet had joined his firm.

The company also started making good profits in just seven months and during that time; Shabarish was fired from his job. Shabarish then went to Kashi and Mumbai where he worked for some time and had returned to Bengaluru only recently, sources said.

According to sources, soon after killing the executives, the assailants took a cab to Majestic and from there boarded a train to Kunigal. When the police entered their lodge room, the trio were consuming alcohol.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru NorthEast, Laxmi Prasad, said that five teams had been formed to nab the accused persons.

“The three accused were nabbed from Kunigal and we are also questioning Arun Kumar of Gnet Media to establish if he was involved. It is said that the main accused Shabarish was working with Gnet but he is now giving confusing statements. The trio came on a motorcycle and committed the double murder,” he said.

Shabarish was active on instagram where he had identified himself as a ‘Kannada rapper’ and a fashion model.

His account has videos and pictures of himself dressed up as ‘Joker’ (a character from DC comics) with black paint around his eyes and lips painted in red. His profile showed his name as MR JF (Joker Felix).

On Tuesday around 4 pm, Shabarish reached Phanindra’s office building on a two-wheeler , accompanied by two accomplices.

Shabarish was carrying a sword and a knife while his accomplices had machetes in their hands. Shabarish and Phanindra held a discussion for about 20 minutes in the office room.

Vinu Kumar who heard the screams from the office room tried to intervene and was assaulted by the trio. Around 10 employees who were at the premises were threatened by Felix. He then stabbed both Phanindra and Vinu Kumar and fled the scene.

The two were rushed to hospitals by the employees but the two succumbed to their injuries.