Advocate on way to court hacked to death in Karnataka

KALABURGI: A 40-year-old advocate who was on his way to the district court was chased and hacked to death by two-three assailants around 11am Thursday, barely 200 metres from his farmhouse on the city outskirts, reports Mouneshwar Sonnad.

Police said the assailants who had studied his daily routine attacked the bike-borne Erannagouda Police Patil, who set out from his house a little before 11am. Some distance away, the assailants attacked Patil, who fell off his bike and rushed towards an apartment complex which has about 30 units, near Sai Mandir, seeking shelter. The assailants closed in on the advocate, threw chilli powder into his eyes.

'Advocate involved in property row'
The assailants indiscriminately hit him with a sickle and later crushed his head with a boulder. As residents watched in horror, the assailants said they will surrender before police, and that their "identity will be captured in media the next day". CCTV footage showed at least two assailants in the apartment parking bay.

Patil had celebrated the third birthday of his son a week ago. His wife is a homemaker.

Police sources claimed Patil, who was at the centre of a property dispute as he was the only legal heir to hundreds of acres of joint family land, had a run-in with cousins in a related legal case. It is said Patil got a revolver licence after his father and uncle were similarly assaulted some years ago.

Kalaburagi City police commissioner R Chetan said there "may be a property dispute" behind the murder, but the theory will be known only after investigation.