Bengaluru: Barely a couple of days after he was handed a breather in a case of Breach of Privilege, Ravi Belagere, Editor of Kannada tabloid ‘Hai Bangalore,’ was arrested yesterday by Central Crime Branch (CCB) officers for allegedly attempting and conspiring to murder Sunil Heggaravalli, one of his  former employees.

According to the Police, the plot to eliminate Sunil was a meticulously drawn plan and they have enough evidence to nail Belagere. It is very rare for the accused in such a case to get bail. Belagere had a major role to play in the case as he paid money, gave a gun and ammunition to carry out  the killing.

Police sources said that Belagere had been having troubles at home and Sunil probably had a role to play in them.

The Police raided Prarthana School in Padmanabhanagar (from where Belagere runs his tabloid) around 1.30 pm.

Another person, Shashidhar Ramachandra Mundawadagi, allegedly hired by Belagere to carry out the killing, was arrested on Thursday.

At Belagere’s school, the Police found a revolver, 53 live bullets, a double barrel gun and 41 live bullets. A tortoise shell of 1.5 x 1.5 ft and a deer pelt were also recovered.

He was booked under IPC sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 307 (attempt to murder) and sections 3 and 25 of the Arms Act.

Belagere was produced before the First Additional City Chief Magistrate Jagadeesh at his residence late last night and he was sent to four-day custody.

Police said that Belagere had planned to eliminate Sunil Heggaravalli, who had worked for 15 years at the tabloid. Heggaravalli had quit the publication in December 2014 and the two apparently had a personal feud.

How the case was cracked

The Special Investigating Team, probing the murder of Gauri Lankesh, detained a weapon supplier Tahir Hussein alias Anoop Gowda last Sunday.

Police were hot on his heels since Hussein used to supply country-made firearms (Gauri was killed with a similar weapon). During interrogation, he told the Police that he had given a pistol and two live bullets to Supari killer Mundawadagi of Vijayapura.

Late on Thursday night, Police arrested Shashidhar Mundawadagi from a lodge near Chikpet in Bengaluru. Upon interrogation, he spilled the beans about the murder that he planned to commit and how Belagere had hired him.

Indi in Vijayapura district is a hotbed of illegal gunrunners and Supari killers, which prompted the SIT probing Gauri’s murder to round up gunrunners from the region trying to trace the source of the 7.65-mm country-made pistol used to kill her.

The SIT has yet to get a breakthrough in the Gauri murder case, but during their background check, they learned that Tahir Hussain was in Bengaluru and tipped off the Bengaluru  Police.

What Mundawadagi told Police?

Mundawadagi told the Police that Belagere had called him in August to ask about the Bheema Theera gang (Belagere used to write about the dreaded gang in his tabloid).

He then offered “unimaginable riches” if Mundawadagi killed a person (Sunil) as he had allegedly developed intimacy with Belagere’s second wife. Mundawadagi accepted and met Belagere at his office the week after.

Mundawadagi told Belagere that he would take care of the planning and his brother-in-law Viju Badiger would carry out the execution. At his office, Belagere gave Mundawadagi and Badiger a pistol and bullets from his briefcase. He asked the duo to kill Sunil and keep the pistol back in the briefcase.

Belagere then arranged a car for the duo to survey Sunil’s house. When the duo reached his apartment on Uttarahalli Main Road on Aug.28, they noticed CCTV cameras in the building and the one adjacent to it. They dropped the plan, returned to Belagere’s office and asked him for how long the CCTV footage would be saved.

When Belagere informed them that normally records are kept for a month, they said they would return after 30 days. But Mundawadagi was caught by the Maharashtra Police and four pistols were seized from him.

After his release, Mundawadagi returned to Bengaluru on Thursday and asked Belagere for the pistol. When Police got wind of Mundawadagi’s arrival, they got Tahir to call him and laid a trap.

THE SUPARI TRAIL AND KEY PLAYERS

• Ravi Belagere: Put out the contract. Hailing from Ballari, he started Kannada tabloid ‘Hai Bangalore’ in 1995, which he edits.
• Sunil Heggaravalli: Intended target. He is a senior crime reporter working with Ravi Belagere since  15 years.
• Shashidhar Ramachandra Mundawadagi: The hitman hailing from Indi, Vijayapura district and known to Belagere. He has three murder cases against him:Muthu                      Master in 2006, Bhagappa Harijan in 2013, and Suresh Lalasangi in 2014.