‘Insulted’ college staffer gets life term for killing student, attempting to murder another

BENGALURU: A crime that sent shockwaves across the city a decade ago reached a conclusion Wednesday: A city court sentenced a college attender to life imprisonment for gunning down a student in her hostel and for attempting to murder her friend.
The horrific incident unfolded around 10pm on March 31, 2015 in the girls' hostel of Pragati PU College in Kadugodi in the city's tech corridor. The accused, identified as B Narayanapura resident KU Mahesh, walked into the hostel armed with a country-made pistol and killed Gowthami, a II PU student. Then he walked into another room and shot at Sirisha, another student, in the face before escaping. He evaded police for two weeks, and was arrested from his hideout on April 14.
During interrogation, Mahesh revealed the shocking reason behind the brutal crime — humiliation. A bachelor and a long-time employee at the college, he claimed Gowthami and Sirisha had ridiculed him. When he offered to help them fill CET exam applications, they dismissed him, mocking his position as an attender. This, coupled with their objections to his frequent presence near the hostel rooms, had angered him. "He held a grudge against the girls and saw their words as an insult," said principal public prosecutor Meenakumari S Rajavamshi.
Investigation also revealed that Mahesh, who fancied guns, had earlier travelled to Munger in Bihar and purchased a country-made pistol and bullets for Rs 15,000 from illegal arms dealers.
The prosecution presented testimony from 35 witnesses, including Sirisha, whose statement proved crucial in securing the conviction.
Judge Geeta BK, in her verdict, emphasized that forensic evidence, postmortem report, ballistic analysis and recovery of the murder weapon pointed unequivocally to Mahesh as the perpetrator.