Bombs hurled at RSS office; BJP holds CPM responsible

Bengaluru, Feb 29: Dreaded underworld don Ravi Poojary's lawyer Dilraj has allegedly been kept out of hearing distance and as a mute spectator during interrogation by the police.

"The lawyer is a mute spectator out of hearing distance from the interrogation. He is not privy to what police ask Pujari," a source told media.

As directed by the court and requested by Poojary, Dilraj is allowed to be present near the interrogation for him to consult on legal issues, but the cops have made sure that he does not hear anything for fear of leaking information.

The court has also ordered the interrogation to be video graphed, which the police are carrying out.

Police sources said that Ravi Poojary is relaxed and cool during the multi-lingual interrogation.

"He is cool, giving frank replies. Poojary is exhibiting confidence in whatever he is telling. Maybe confidently lying, police are not new to him," said the source.

According to source, the gangster knows how to handle police, with sufficient knowledge to reveal how much he wants to, when to stop, when to talk, when to mislead and plant false information.

"Poojary is being interrogated in his mother tongue Kannada, Hindi and English. He is fluent in English," the source said.

However, the source denied speculation gaining currency that Poojary requested police not to send him to Mumbai fearing of being eliminated by the henchmen of dreaded underworld dons Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Rajan.

"Nothing of that sort happened. It doesn't work like that. He has been captured after 25 years, and he is not a king to choose. Wherever the law takes him, he will go there," said the source.

Rajan is serving a life sentence inside a high security cell in Delhi's Tihar jail.

Currently, the probe is focused on Tilknagar Shabnam Developers double murder shootout case. Police are discovering information, verifying it with respect to evidence and building the case.

Taking regular breaks, police are interrogating Poojary from morning till evening.

Of the over 200 cases against Poojary in the southern state, 39 are in Bengaluru, 36 at Mangaluru, 11 in Udupi on the state's west coast and one each at Mysuru, Hubballi-Dharwad, Kolar and Shivamogga in Malnad.

The other cases are in Mumbai (49) and in Gujarat (75) pertaining to extortion, kidnapping, ransom demand and murder threats.

Poojary also extorted huge amounts from popular Bollywood stars and realtors. He was also involved in an attempt to murder case, aimed at killing a prominent lawyer of Mumbai.

A four-member Karnataka police team led by Pandey brought the 52-year-old underworld don to Bengaluru from Dakar in Senegal via Paris in an Air France scheduled flight during the wee hours and kept him at an interrogation centre in the city's south-east suburb.

Bengaluru, Jun 8: Veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday filed his nomination as the party's candidate for the June 19 Rajya Sabha polls from Karnataka.

The former union minister filed his nomination in the presence of KPCC President D K Shivakumar, Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah and other senior party leaders at the office of Legislative Assembly Secretary M K Vishalakshi, who is the returning officer for the polls.

Ahead of filing of nomination, the Congress Legislature Party meeting was held under the leadership of Siddaramaiah, after which Shivakumar issued "B-form" to Kharge.

The Congress high command on June 5 had announced Kharge as the party's candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls.

The election is scheduled on June 19 to fill four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka represented by Rajeev Gowda and BK Hariprasad of the Congress, Prabhakar Kore of the BJP and D Kupendra Reddy of the JD(S) that will fall vacant on June 25, with their retirement.

June 9 is the last date for filing nominations.

Congress with 68 MLAs in the assembly can win one of the four seats easily on its own, so Kharge's victory is said to be certain.

This will be the first stint in Rajya Sabha for Kharge, who has always got elected directly by the people in his political career spanning over four decades.

The leader, earlier popularly known as "solillada Saradara", (a leader without defeat), faced his first electoral loss in his political life against BJP's Umesh Jadhav in Gulbarga by a margin of 95,452 votes during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

A nine-time MLA and two-term Lok Sabha member, he had served as Congress floor leader in the previous Lok Sabha, and also as Union Railway and Labour Minister during the UPA government.

Kharge, who is 77-years-old, has also served as minister during several Congress governments in the state, and as KPCC President and Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly in the past.

His son, Priyank Kharge, is currently MLA representing Chittapur constituency and had served as minister during the previous Congress and coalition governments.

JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda is the JD(S) candidate.

The regional party that has 34 seats in the assembly is not in a position to win a seat in Rajya Sabha on its own, and will need the support from the Congress with its surplus votes.

A minimum of 44 votes are required for candidates to win.

BJP with 117 members in the assembly (including Speaker), can ensure easy victory in two seats.

The BJP's central leadership on Monday sprang a surprise by fielding Eranna Kadadi and Ashok Gasti as its candidates for the Rajya Sabha election ignoring the recommendations of the state BJP unit.