BENGALURU: Two notorious rowdies, including an associate of gangster Ravi Pujari, wanted for a kidnap and murder of a financier were shot at and arrested by the East division police after they allegedly attacked police staff.
Pujari's aide Kaviraj was also involved in the kidnap of former minister Varthur Prakash last year.
Kaviraj and Ambarish alias Ambi were shot at by the police after they injured Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Govindaraju attached to Baiyappanahalli station and Vijaykumar M, a head constable attached to Indiranagar police station.
Police said the duo was wanted for the kidnap and murder of K Kumar alias Vijaykumar (48), a resident of Hutting Colony of Indiranagar. On July 5, Ambarish had gone to Kumar's house and had taken him out on his bike with cash Rs. 70,000. As he had not returned, his wife had filed a missing person's complaint on July 9. While investigating the case, the police found out it was a kidnap and arrested one Naveen Kumar alias Deal Naveen, who revealed that Ambarish and Kaviraj had masterminded the kidnap.
He also revealed that Kumar was murdered and the body was dumped in a forest area in Krishnagiri of Tamil Nadu. "While the police teams were on the lookout for Ambarish and Kaviraj, they received a credible tip-off that they were moving around in a car that had no registration number plate, in the early hours of Wednesday. The police swung into action and traced the car near Metro employees' residential quarters. When the police tried to arrest them, the duo attacked with lethal weapons injuring two staff. After firing a warning shot, they were shot at and injured in the legs," the police said.
While Ambrarish has more than 23 cases including murders and attempts to murder, Kaviraj is the associate of gangster Ravi Pujari and has 13 cases including the Shabnam Developers shootout case in which two were shot dead. He had also allegedly orchestrated the kidnap of former minister Varthur Prakash in Kolar in 2020.
Accused and Deceased were friends in jail
Investigations revealed that deceased Kumar was lodged in Bengaluru Central Prison in connection with a case and that's where he came in contact with Ambarish. "They both were meeting occasionally after both were released. Kumar had told Ambarish that he was into the finance business and had a lot of money. Meanwhile, Ambarish had become friends with Kaviraj when both were lodged in Kolar district jail. Kaviraj had discussed with Ambarish about the former minister's kidnap and Ambarish proposed to kidnap Kumar and make money. The duo, after coming out on bail, planned Kumar's kidnap," said the police.
Accordingly, Ambarish went to Kumar's house and told him he knows a person who is ready to sell a property for a cheaper price and brought him to Hoskote on the pretext of seeing the land. At Hoskote, Ambarish's team kidnapped him and took him to an isolated place in Hosur, and assaulted him demanding money. As Kumar threatened to file a police complaint and refused to give money, the abductors murdered him and dumped the body in a forest area, the police added.