A gang of unidentified persons fired two rounds at the car in which P Dayananda Pai, Managing Director of Century Group, was travelling near the busy Ramakrishna Ashram Circle on Bull Temple Road here on Tuesday evening. However, Pai and his car driver escaped unhurt.
Police said Pai, also a trustee of BMS Educational Trust, left his Vasanthnagar office and was going to BMS Engineering College on Bull Temple Road. On the way, he received a call on his cellphone. The caller identified himself as Hebbet Manja , a notorious rowdy. He asked Pai to give him a land in Devanahalli. Pai had ignored the call. After a few minutes, the same person called again and told Pai that the matter was between him and Pai’s brother Satish Pai. Pai had again ignored the call.
“The car stopped at a signal near the circle around 6.10 pm and Pai was sitting in the rear seat. Suddenly, four persons riding two bikes came next to the car and fired two bullets, one at Pai and the other at his driver and sped away. As the car had bullet-proof glass, the duo escaped unhurt,” the police said.
“Some land dispute or demand for hafta (protection money) could have been the reason for attack,” the police added.
‘I Wanted to Teach a Lesson to Pai’
Meanwhile, Manja claimed that he was behind the attack. “I had asked Pai to give me some property at Devanahalli. But he dropped names of some gangsters and politicians. Hence, I wanted to teach him a lesson and this is just a sample,” he said over a telephonic conversation with a private Kannada news channel. Police Commissioner Mirji said that the case was handed over to CCB.