BENGALURU: The Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act (KCOCA) court in Belagavi on Wednesday convicted nine out of 12 accused, including the notorious underworld don Bananje Raja alias Rajendra Kumar (54), in a nine-year-old murder case of BJP leader RN Nayak at Ankola. This is the first conviction in a KCOCA case in Karnataka.
Nayak was murdered at the height of extortion racket in coastal Karnataka. Bananje was named as an accused in the case after the investigation revealed that he had made extortion calls to Nayak and the latter had refused to give in. Bananje had allegedly hired the sharpshooters from Uttar Pradesh to execute the contract killing.
He was arrested in Casa Blanca in February 2015 and extradited to India in August that year. He was brought to Karnataka by a police team led by then Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Law & Order, Pratap Reddy, and the present Tamil Nadu BJP leader and former IPS officer Annamalai, who was the investigating officer.
Reddy was the then inspector general of police, Western range when Nayak was murdered. He had supervised the investigation from the beginning. DG&IGP Praveen Sood called the investigation “outstanding” and congratulated Reddy, the investigation, court monitoring and prosecution teams for their meticulous and scientific investigation in the high-profile murder case, which resulted in the conviction of the accused under the stringent Act. Akash alias Vivek Kumar Upadhaya (A1) was shot dead by the security guard of Nayak and police constable Ramesh Gowda when he was trying to flee after the assassination.
Bananje Raja faces 48 cases in Karnataka
The KCOCA court convicted Jagadish alias Satish Kumar Patel (A2) from UP, Abhi alias Ambaji Bandgar (A3) from Vijayapura, Ganesh alias Manjunath alias Laxman (A4) from Udupi, KM Ismail (A5) from Palakkad, Kerala, Mahesh Achangi (A7) from Sakleshpur, Santosh MB alias Sulia Santosh (A8) from Kerala, Bananje Raja alias BR (A9) from Malpe, Jagadish Chandra Raj Urs (A10) from RT Nagar, Bengaluru, Ankit Kumar Kashyap (A12) from Gorakhpur, UP under concerned sections of the Indian Penal Code for criminal conspiracy, murder and attempt to murder among others and provisions of KCOCA.
Bananje is currently lodged in the Hindalga prison at Belagavi. He faces 48 cases filed in Udupi, Mangaluru, Uttara Kannada, Bengaluru, Mysuru, Shivamogga and Kerala. Nayak’s contract killing is one of the most prominent cases he faces in the State. Bananje was extradited after a laborious and painstaking work by the K’taka police, Research & Analysis Wing, MEA backed by the Interpol, Moroccan and Dubai police. The CBI had earlier notified the Interpol to issue a Red Corner Notice against Bananje. He was allegedly hiding in Morocco as Kumar Hemanth Hegde and was given away by a Dubaibased hotelier.