BENGALURU: Notorious gangster Ravi Poojary was acquitted by a special court here on Thursday in the 2001 murder case of ‘builder’ Subbaraju due to a lack of evidence. Poojary alias Ravi Prakash alias Anthony Fernandez alias Raki Fernandez, who hails from Malpe in Udupi district, was accused number two in the Subbaraju murder case. Six other accused, including reformed don late Muthappa Rai, prime accused in the case, were acquitted in 2004. While sharpshooter Nitin Sawant, who had allegedly gunned down Subbaraju, was killed in a police encounter, another sharpshooter Yusuf Bachkana was only accused to be convicted in the case and was sentenced to life.
Poojary, who had escaped from India in the 90s and was operating from foreign countries, was arrested in Senegal in 2019 in a coordinated operation by Karnataka police and Senegal law enforcement agencies. He was extradited from Senegal and brought to India in 2020.
The police had interrogated him in connection with Subbaraju’s murder and submitted a split-up chargesheet to the court. The Special Court on Central Prison premises had conducted the trial during which 12 witnesses were examined.
On Thursday, Special Sessions Judge G Raghavendra acquitted Poojary as the prosecution failed to prove the case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt. Dilraj Rohit Sequeira, who represented Poojary, told TNIE the prosecution failed to produce any incriminating material. “The acquittal of six accused in the main case (2004 judgment) turned favourable for my client. Also, the prosecution could not produce incriminating material objects such as the weapon used to commit the murder and the mobile phones used to communicate..”
Subbaraju, a real estate businessman, was shot dead in his office, Srinivasa Enterprises, located in Sheshadripuram, on January 5, 2001. The murder was allegedly carried out at the behest of Poojary. Investigations had revealed Subbaraju had angered Muthappa Rai over disputed prime properties on Cunningham Road, Crescent Road and other localities. As Subbaraju had turned down Rai’s offer to close some deal, the latter had allegedly met Poojary at his villa near the American Embassy in Uganda, where he gave supari (contract). Poojary allegedly gave the hit job to the sharpshooters and allegedly took `2 lakh from Rai.