BELAGAVI: In a brazen daylight attack that has sent shockwaves across the district, the car driver of Women and Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar’s family was brutally stabbed multiple times in the heart of Belagavi city on Tuesday.
Within 24 hours, city police cracked the case, arresting all four accused, police said on Wednesday.Belagavi Police Commissioner Bhushan Borse identified the arrested men as Shivayya Pujari, Mitesh Badiger, Sampath Kadolkar and Monappa Patil. The prime accused, Pujari and Badiger, allegedly attacked Basavanta Kadolkar, the car driver of Mrunal Hebbalkar, son of Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar, near Mahaveer Canteen on Club Road, a busy central locality, on Tuesday.
The assailants stabbed Kadolkar repeatedly with a knife and fled the scene, leaving him bleeding on the road. The victim, a resident of Belgundi village, was rushed to VOTC Hospital, where he is undergoing treatment. Doctors confirmed four stab injuries to the chest, shoulder and thigh, terming the assault a clear attempt to murder. Both the attackers and the injured driver hail from Gojaga village in Belagavi taluk, which falls within Minister Hebbalkar’s constituency.