BENGALURU: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) police on Friday night arrested a gang of four men on suspicion of hatching a plot to murder a prominent sandalwood actor. However, police claimed that there was no such case and that the gang was nabbed in a robbery case. There were reports on channels stating that the leading actor who was targeted was KGF actor Yash.
However, Additional Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar dismissed the rumours and posted a message to the media stating, “As being reported in certain TV channels, Yash is not the target in the supari case. We can only say that it is related to one prominent personality of Sandalwood.”
The accused have been identified as Nitesh (29), Nithyanand (32), both residents of Sheshadripuram, Madhusudan (34) of Vijayanagar and Pruthviraj (28), of PG Halli. Based on a tip-off that the gang was attempting a robbery, the police nabbed them after a chase near BDA complex in Sheshadripuram. They seized a few lethal weapons from them, and it was suspected that they could be supari killers.
A senior police officer said that arrested rowdy Slum Bharath had earlier revealed that some of his associates had taken a contract to finish a Sandalwood actor. Based on his information, a special team swung into action and nabbed the suspects while they were hatching the robbery plot. Four of them were grilled at the custody, after which the police came to the conclusion that there was no one from this gang who had taken a contract to kill.
ALL IN A DAY
*Friday wee hours: Central Crime Branch sleuths nab the gang members at Sheshadripuram, seize weapons
*Saturday 10am- CCB sleuths interrogate all the accused suspecting supari killing of a sandalwood actor
*1.30pm- News flash on TV channels that the suspected target was KGF actor Yash
*3.30pm- CCB rules out supari angle, says accused were nabbed based on information given by Slum Bharath, who misled the investigation officials.
*Around 4pm-Additional commissioner sends a message clarifying that it was not related to Yash, and just that a prominent personality from Sandalwood was involved
*6pm- Yash hurriedly calls for a press meet at a city-based hotel to reveal that his name is being dragged unnecessarily, and there is no threat
*7 pm- Senior police officials confirm to the media that
there was a financial dispute between two producers in Sandalwood and investigation
was still on.