Bengaluru: With the arrest of a gang of 12 persons, the Bengaluru district police on Thursday claimed to have solved the murder case of a retired senior officer of Indian Air Force that took place two-and-a-half years ago at his residence off Hosur Road.
According to the police, some of the gang members were picked up while moving around suspiciously near a gated community on the outskirts of the city.
The police said that the gang members are from the outskirts of the city. They were arrested in connection with a dacoity case. When questioned, they claimed to have committed more than 20 robberies across the city, and five were involved in the murder of Air Commodore Parvez Khokar (retd.) during a robbery attempt, the police sources said.
They had smothered 71-year-old Air Commodore Khokar after he resisted their robbery attempt in his villa in November 2014, the police said. His wife Promila was asleep in an adjacent bedroom.
According to the police, Srinivas (21), Girisha (33), Nagaraj (28), Subramani (32) and Satya Narayana (28) had entered the villa. Khokar, who was asleep in his bedroom, noticed them and put up a tough fight. Enraged by this, the robbers overpowered him. They stuffed a piece of cloth into his mouth, tied his hands and legs before smothering him using a pillow.
The Hebbagodi police had suspected Khokar’s wife of having a hand in the murder since the motive was not clear. After a detailed probe, they had concluded that the murder was the fallout of a robbery bid gone wrong.