17-year-old student found shot dead in Karnataka’s capital

Bengaluru, Sept 17: In a shocking incident, a 17-year-old boy was found dead with a gunshot wound in the early hours on Friday at a BMTC bus stop near Indian Air Force Headquarters Training Command in RMV Second Stage in Bengaluru.

The police suspect that the deceased boy allegedly shot himself with his father's licensed pistol.  

The deceased has been identified as Rahul Bandari, a resident of Ganganagar of RT Nagar. According to a preliminary investigation, Sadashivanagar police said that Rahul was found dead on the pavement of the BMTC bus stop around 5.30 am. 

A passerby who noticed him lying in the pool of blood alerted the police. On reaching the spot police found that Rahul had a gunshot wound on his head. A pistol, pistol bag, a belt and a mobile phone were lying next to his body. 

Rahul was studying in class XI in the Army Public School. He was the son of retired Army Havaldar Bhagath Singh. Rahul was staying along with his parents and elder sister in a rented house in Ganganagar. 

MN Anucheth, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) after visiting the spot, told media persons that prima facie it appears that Rahul had shot himself. There is a bullet entry injury on the right side of his head and an exit wound on the left side.

Rahul left his house around 3.30 am for a walk. While leaving, he carried his father's pistol kept in almirah without anybody noticing it. When he came to the bus stop, he allegedly shot himself. The reason for his extreme step is yet to be ascertained, Anucheth said. 

Rahul used to go for a walk in the morning and at night whenever he felt stressed after studying. He was preparing for his class exams. He was studying from Thursday night till the wee hours on Friday. 

His parents tried to reach him on his mobile phone to check if he had gone for a morning walk, but the calls went answered, a senior investigating officer said. 

According to Rahul's parents, they had trained him on using the pistol. Bhagat brought the pistol in 2017. The family hails from Uttarakhand and has been residing in Bengaluru for almost two decades. The parents are shocked by the extreme step of Rahul. He didn't have any issues at home, he was also good at studies and had scored around 90 percent in his class X, the officer added. A case of unnatural death has been registered by Sadashivanagar and further investigation is on.