Seven years after losing his son to a brutal road rage incident, Koushalendar Kumar Pandey, 58, finally witnessed justice when a Bengaluru court sentenced two men to life imprisonment for the murder of his 26-year-old son, Siddharth Koushal, an engineer with Infosys, in 2018. Incidentally, the judgment came on Siddharth Koushal’s birthday.
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Balachandra N Bhat, 59th additional city civil and sessions court judge, on October 24, ordered Girish V, 28, and Mahesh M K, 26, guilty. “My son’s birthday was on October 24 — the day the court pronounced both the accused guilty. I know my son won’t come back, but the conviction coming through on his birthday is justice delivered. A lot of witnesses in the case were threatened, but the police ensured their safety,” an emotional Pandey, a businessman from Patna, Bihar, told reporters on Tuesday.
Pandey and his family visited Sarah Fathima, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South-East, Ajay R M, and other police personnel involved in the case, and thanked them.
When road rage turned into murder
Siddharth Koushal was a lead engineer at Infosys and a business partner at Magic Spices restaurant located in Puttenahalli.
Siddharth Koushal, a lead engineer was murdered in a road rage incident in 2018.
(Express Photo)
The incident occurred around 3 am on June 26, 2018, when Siddharth, residing at Puttenahalli in JP Nagar 7th Phase, was travelling from JP Nagar to Electronics City with his friends, Ravi Prakash and Naveen, in a car. When they stopped near BTM Layout 16th Main for Siddharth to relieve himself, the accused—riding a motorcycle—brushed against him, hitting his elbow.
When Siddharth cautioned them to ride carefully, Girish became enraged and got into an argument. He then picked up a wooden log, struck Siddharth violently on the head, and also assaulted Ravi before fleeing with Mahesh, who had instigated the attack while riding the motorcycle. Siddharth collapsed and was rushed to Life Care Hospital before being transferred to Apollo Hospital on Bannerghatta Road. Siddharth succumbed to injuries on June 30.
Ajay R M, the then police inspector of Mico Layout police station, had arrested Girish and Mahesh in less than a day, and a chargesheet was filed.
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After the conclusion of the hearing, the court noted that attacking the head with such a weapon demonstrated the accused’s knowledge that it would likely cause death. “The accused No.1 (Girish) was not justified in having used disproportionate force to avenge the calling of the deceased to ride carefully,” the judgment stated.
While Mahesh was later released on bail, Girish’s bail plea was rejected, and he remained in judicial custody throughout the trial.