Kundapur: Bank Manager from Padukone Murdered in Bangalore

Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Sep 26: Shankar Poojary (55), a native of Padukone village in the taluk, was strangled to death by unknown assailants late night on Saturday September 24. Poojary was working as the chief manager of M G Road branch of Oriental Bank of Commerce in Bangalore. The murder came to light on Sunday evening.

An employee of a nearby hotel where Poojary used to have food visited Poojary on Sunday evening, and was horrified to find that Poojary had been killed. Poojary did not cook at home, and depended on hotel food. The hotel he frequented for his food is run by a person known to him. The fact that Poojary did not visit the hotel on Sunday had surprised the hotel employees, who deputed one of them to visit Poojary.

Shankar was a resident of an apartment located near Yediyur tank in Bangalore. He had worked for several years in Mumbai, before being transferred to Bangalore last year. He stayed alone at his apartment, as he had left his family back in Mumbai. The police said that Poojary was smothered by the miscreants with the help of bed sheets.

Reasons for the murder are as yet unknown. The police suspect longstanding enmity connected with his employment as cause of murder. Murder for gain has been ruled out, as Poojary did not have any valuables at his two-bedroom rented home. The front door was found to be partially open, indicating that Poojary had himself opened the door for someone known to him. The body was found on the passage next to the bedroom.

His neighbours said that they had noticed that the television volume at Poojary's home was unuusually high between 9 and 11 pm on Saturday night, even though he did not have the habit of watching television programmes.

Poojary's colleagues said he was soft-spoken, honest, and god-fearing. He was widely respected at his workplace.

City joint police commissioner, Pranav Mohanty, Sonia Narang, deputy commissioner of police, Bangalore (south), and other personnel visited the spot and guided investigators. Narang said that one of the bedrooms was found to have been ransacked, and the policemen are verifying mobile calls and other information for possible leads. A case was filed in this connection at Jayanagar police station.