Bengaluru: On Tuesday, Bengaluru Central Crime Branch police apprehended former mayor and Congress leader R. Sampath Raj, who was a wanted man in Bengaluru riots case.
Sandeep Patil, The Bengaluru Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), confirmed the media through WhatsApp saying just “YES”, he has been arrested.
Raj has been absconding from a hospital throughout the last month where he was admitted after he was “tested COVID-19 positive”.
His escape from the hospital had brought up numerous questions than answers as he was admitted to hospital after his name was included in the charge sheet registered by the police in a local court claiming that he was one of the conspirators in Bengaluru riots case.
Prior on Monday, a significant breakthrough came for this case as the CCB had apprehended Raj’s close aid Riyazuddin for sheltering Raj and another Congress head Zakir who is as of yet is still absconding.
It might be important to note here that on August 11, Pulikeshi Nagar Congress MLA Akhanda Srinvasa Murhty’s nephew Naveen Kumar (who is currently out on a bail) posted an insidious post on his Facebook account.
Enraged over the post, a segment of residents approached K.G. Halli police and D.J. Police to commence an action against Naveen. The police reportedly were wasting time by being indecisive over initiating action on Naveen, the mob went crazy and indulged arson and looting.
In an attempt to control the enraged mob, the police had to start shooting killing four people on August 11. Before the police started to shoot, the crowd had set MLA’s home on fire aside from burning a few vehicles parked in K.G. Halli and D.J. Halli police stations.
The city police have already booked almost 400 people in this connections, aside from recording charge sheet against Raj and Zakir, both are congress heads, for allegedly instigating the crowd yet the two leaders were absconding since then.
On 13th November, the Karnataka High Court had given a non-bailable warrant for Raj, as indicated by the Hindustan Times. The court had led the investigating official probing the case to take every possible step to trace Raj and apprehend him.
The High Court likewise looked for a report on the means taken to trace the accused, in a sealed envelope, during the following hearing on November 25. Raj’s anticipatory bail plea is pending before the gaze of the court.
withIANSinputs
