12 get life sentence for murder triggered by Tamil Nadu family feud in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: A five-year murderous fight between the descendants of two wives of a farmer over four acres of land saw bloodletting on both sides of the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border. It is now headed for a climax, with a sessions court in Kanakapura recently convicting 12 men and sentencing them to life imprisonment in one of the three killings that marked the feud. The two other killings, reported in Tamil Nadu, are still in the trial stages.Judge Kumar HN of the second additional sessions court, Ramanagara, imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on each of the 12 men for the killing, reported at a bar in Kodihalli, Kanakapura taluk, in 2021. Four other accused, including a woman, who were arrested later are still facing trial. One of the suspects died during trial. The bloody feud goes back to Hulibande, Krishnagiri district, Tamil Nadu, close to the Karnataka border. Farmer Chinnaswamy had two wives, and their children and grandchildren began fighting over a four-acre agricultural plot belonging to him.According to the Kanakapura police chargesheet in the Kodihalli murder, Obegowda, son of Chinnaswamy's first wife, shot at and injured his rival Channakrishna at Hulibande village in early 2016. Channakrishna was the grandson of Chinnaswamy's second wife. In retaliation, Channakrishna killed Obegowda in Dec 2016. In April 2021, Obegowda's sons — Shankara, Murugesh, and Byrappa — murdered Channakrishna. All these incidents took place under the jurisdiction of Thally police in Tamil Nadu.Next, the scene shifted to Kanakapura taluk when Shankara visited a bar in Kodihalli, about 8km from Hulibande, in Aug 2021. Since there were no bars in Hulibande, Shankara regularly rode to Kodihalli to savour his liquor. Upon learning of his visit, Channakrishna's elder brother, M Mahadeva alias Madesha (who is the prime accused), and his associates attacked him with weapons inside the bar. Shankara died instantly, and police found more than 20 hack injuries on his body.Police inspector Kodihalli TT Krishna's quick action in nabbing two of the suspects even as they fled from the bar helped in identifying and tracing the remaining suspects. "While the entire assailant gang ran in different directions, police, who were alerted by the bar staff, rushed to the spot and chased two suspects. The chase was so dramatic that the accused were riding their bike on the busy Sangama road, with cops chasing them in a jeep. Police, who knew the road, managed to block the traffic at a point and caught hold of them. Based on their statements, others were secured," a prosecution source said.According to Krishna, collecting CCTV footage from the bar the same day helped in building a water-tight case. "We sent the DVR to FSL for authenticity. Fortunately, the footage clearly showed the suspects, their faces, and their actions of killing. Identifying each of them became easy," Krishna said, adding: "During trial, the bar owner and the cashier, who were important eyewitnesses to the case, turned hostile. However, the CCTV footage was so clear it helped in clinching the conviction."The convicts are Mahadeva, Shivakumar M, V Lokesh, S Kartik, Venukumar R, G Ramachandra, Dilip Raj, E Gurappa, G Raghu alias Suri, M Dasharatha, G Harish, and K Suresh.