'Shouted get me four-five cigarettes': How a 'order' for smokes sparked road rage that killed Bengaluru techie

BENGALURU: A tiff over something as trivial as buying cigarettes triggered a road rage that led to the death of one software engineer in the city recently, while one of his acquaintances, also a techie, was injured after the sports bike they were riding was hit from behind by an SUV.

Minutes before ramming his white Hyundai Creta on to the bike, the accused, Prateek R, 31, a sales executive, was locked in a heated argument with Chetan, 30, and Sanjay H N, 29, after he had allegedly ordered the former to get him some cigarettes from a roadside pushcart.

Both Sanjay and Chetan were injured when the SUV rammed their bike, with the former succumbing to grievous head injuries at a city hospital three days after the incident.

In view of the death, the attempt-to-murder charge initially filed against Prateek, an RR Nagar resident, was converted to a murder indictment.

DCP: Wife accompanying man at time of fight under scanner
CCTV footage clearly shows how the accused rammed into the motorbike, resulting in one death,” Lokesh Jagalasar, DCP (south), said, adding that the role of Prateek’s wife, who was accompanying him at the time of the crime, was also under lens.

Around 4 am on May 10, Sanjay and Chetan, employees at different tech firms, were smoking and having tea at a roadside pushcart on Vasantapura Main Road near Konanakunte Cross, when the Creta pulled up near the duo and the man behind the wheel shouted at them, saying: “Get me four-five cigarettes.” There was a woman in the front seat of the Creta.

Shocked by such misdemeanour by a stranger, Chetan told him to get the cigarettes himself. “Irked by my reply, the man got off the SUV, abused us, and was about to hit me when Sanjay intervened and pushed him away.

Meanwhile, the woman in the car got off the SUV and dragged him away,” Chetan said in his statement.

Once done with the tea, as Sanjay and Chetan hit the road, suddenly the SUV came charging from behind and rammed into their bike, sending it crashing against the shutters of a medical shop. In the impact, Chetan was thrown on to the bonnet of the SUV, while Sanjay, who was riding the bike, was knocked down on the pavement and lost consciousness after sustaining serious head injuries, his statement said.

Sanjay was moved to a private hospital in Jayanagar and later to another private hospital in JP Nagar, where he died on May 13, Chetan told police. Cops later arrested Prateek from RR Nagar. In his statement, Prateek said he and his wife were driving back home after attending a friend’s birthday party when the incident occurred.