Not serial killer, say Bengaluru cops after man with knife attacks 4 in 5 hours
A drunk man, previously accused of stealing mobile phone, attacked 4 persons in a span of 5 hours, triggering a scare in Bengaluru
BENGALURU: A man attacked four persons with a knife in a span of five hours in Bengaluru’s Indranagar area on February 8 evening, the city police said on Monday, triggering rumours on social media that a serial killer was on the loose.
Police said the four persons sustained knife injuries in the attack and were out of danger.
Deputy commissioner of police (Bengaluru East) D Devaraj countered speculation about the attacks. “The suspect has been identified as one Kadamba, who is known in police records as a mobile phone thief and drunkard. He committed the attacks in a drunken state,” Devaraj said. The district police officer said Kadamba was a resident of the Byappanahalli slum near Indiranagar and was last spotted in Hoskote in rural Bengaluru.
According to the sequence of events pieced together by the police, Kadamba first allegedly stopped 19-year-old Jaswanth, who was on scooter at about 9:30pm and got on the two-wheeler, riding pillion with him. The suspect slashed his throat when he did not take a turn as directed by Kadamba. He left the bleeding teenager on the street and walked away.
Ten minutes later, the accused approached a roadside pani puri vendor, Deepak Kumar Verma, 24, He asked the vendor for a plate of pani puri but Verma told him that he had run out of it. Initially, Kadamba hurled abuses in Kannada, Tamil, and Hindi at the vendor. Once other customers left, he pulled out his knife and slashed Verma’s neck.
The suspect is alleged to have approached another roadside vendor about 800 meters away. According to the police complaint, the suspect asked the vendor, Tammaiah M, 44, for a plate of pani puri. Tammaiah served him. But Kadamba got into an argument over the price, ₹30, and slashed the vendor’s face before running away.
The fourth incident took place at about 2:30am near the Lono pub on 80 Feet Road. A bike taxi rider, Adil Aamirsab, 24, was stopped by a man who asked for a ride to Krishnarajapuram railway station. When Aamirsab declined, saying he was headed home to Magadi Road, the attacker allegedly brandished a knife and slashed his neck and fingers. The attacker then snatched the victim’s scooter and mobile phone.
As some messages about the attacks claimed that a serial killer was on the loose, the city police stepped up and rebutted the claim. “A total of four persons were stabbed by the man. We have registered four FIRs. We have identified him. Efforts are on to track him down,” a senior police officer said.
“A rowdy sheet was opened against him in May 2024, and preventive actions had also been initiated against him. He has a total of six cases pending — one of burglary, two of assault, and three robbery cases. He has a history of mobile robbery after the consumption of alcohol. He has a habit of picking petty quarrels with neighbours over trivial reasons,” a senior police officer said.
Four teams have been formed to track down the suspect, the officer said.