4 more accused arrested for priests murder

Mandya: The Mandya district police on Sunday arrested four more accused for the murder of three priests attacged to the 12th century Arkeswara temple at Guththalu on the outskirts here.

The accused were identified as Shivraj alias Shivu, 30, a resident of Laggere and a native of Boovanahalli village of Hassan district who was employed with a garment factory; Manjappa alias Double Engine Manja, 38, a resident of Ramanagar and a native of Siddabovi Playa who was a daily wage worker in a stone crushing unit; Shivaraj alias Kulla Shiva ,25, a resident of Saadolalu of Maddur taluk in Mandya district who was a tender coconut vendor; Ganesh 29, a resident of Haralahalli Pandavapura taluk in Mandya district who worked as construction worker, carpenter, painter, and goods vehicle driver.

The police have recovered Rs 4, 07,935, two mobile phones, one scooter, two motorbikes, and a Tata Magic passenger vehicle. Last week, the Mandya district police had arrested five accused, including Abhi, Raghu, Vijay alias Viji, Manju, and Chandra alias Gandhi. The police had recovered Rs 1.75 lakh from the five accused. Based on the information provided by them, the police arrested the four other accused. The nine accused had decamped with over Rs 5 lakh cash from the temple 'hundis' on September 10 night after brutally murdering the three priests, including Ganesh, Prakash, and Anand when they were asleep inside Arkeshwarta temple. Sri Arkeshwara Swamy temple was built before the Chola dynasty.

The nine accused had smashed the heads of the three priests with an iron rod. Later, the accused had broken open the temple lock and decamped with cash from three hundi boxes. The accused had left the empty hundi boxes outside the temple with some coins. Cases were registered at the Mandya east police station under Sections 396 and 302 of IPC.

A team of police officers led by Mandya SP K Parashuram, ASP V Dhananjay, Mandya Dysp L Navin Kumar, Mandya, circle inspectors K Santhosh, N V Mahesh, police inspectors Harish Babu, Anandegowda, Harishkumar, and other personnel were involved in the operation to nab the accused.

The nine accused were involved in inter-district temple 'hundi' dacoities, the police said. During the investigation, the accused revealed that they were involved in four to five temple 'hundi' dacoities at temples in Bengaluru city, Hassan, Ramanagar, and Mandya districts. Further investigations are on.