Sanjeeva Matandoor, Mattar Rathnakar Hegde to lead BJP in DK, Udupi

Bengaluru, Feb 24: Wanted gangster Ravi Poojary, who was arrested in South Africa and brought to India, was on Monday sent to police custody till March 7 by a Bengaluru court.

First Additional City Magistrate V Jagdish, while sending Pujari to police custody, said that there should be no interference in the investigations.

The court also asked the police to record video and audio of the interrogation process.

Poojary, who was wanted in over 200 cases of serious crime including murder and extortion, was brought to India by a team of senior officials and arrived at the Kempegowda International Airport here.

Pujari was extradited from Senegal on February 22 pursuant to an extradition request made by India in early 2019.

"He is physically fit. Questioning will begin from tomorrow. He is supporting our investigation and answering questions," Additional Director-General of Police Amar Kumar Pandey told reporters here earlier today.

Poojary, who parted ways with underworld don Chhota Rajan had jumped bail after he was arrested in Senegal in 2019 and had escaped to South Africa, where he was involved in drug trafficking and extortion.

According to sources in the Indian intelligence, Ravi Pujari was hiding with a false identity of Anthony Fernandes, a Burkina Faso passport holder, in a remote village in South Africa.

Bengaluru, Jan 10: Chief minister BS Yediyurappa said on Thursday he might not attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, and would most likely visit Delhi this weekend for discussions on the pending cabinet expansion.

He was expected to join Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Mansukh Mandaviya, chief ministers Amarinder Singh (Punjab) and Kamal Nath (Madhya Pradesh) and over 100 Indian CEOs at WEF’s 50th annual gathering on January 21-24.

“Mostly, I may not go for Davos (meet),” he told reporters on Thursday. Last week, he had said he was not keen on travelling to the Swiss town but was considering it as some chief ministers’ attendance was required at the high-profile event.

Eleven Congress-JD(S) turncoats, who contested the bypolls on BJP tickets and won, reportedly pressured Yediyurappa to take a decision on cabinet expansion before the now-uncertain Davos trip; it was even suggested that he should simply cancel the trip. The newly elected BJP MLAs are widely expected to be inducted as ministers. But officials in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said his disinclination to travel had nothing to do with the cabinet exercise.

“It’s mainly because of his health. That place (Davos) has got temperature of minus 4-6 degrees and it will be quite tedious for Yediyurappa at the age of 76,” one official said. BJP functionaries, however, claimed that he was wary of taking a trip amid tensions in the party. “The new MLAs have been breathing down Yediyurappa’s neck. They have pushed him into a corner, demanding that he complete cabinet expansion before going anywhere,” a senior functionary said.

On Thursday, the chief minister said he had sought a meeting with party bosses in Delhi. “To discuss cabinet expansion and other important issues, I plan to travel to New Delhi on January 11 or 12. However, I am still waiting for an appointment with the BJP national president and prime minister,” he said.

While Yediyurappa, his additional chief secretary P Ravi Kumar and political adviser MB Maramkal may not visit Davos, a 10-member delegation from Karnataka, including Jagadish Shettar, is expected to travel. There are reports ministers’ family members might join the delegation.

Bengaluru, Feb 27: A notorious history-sheeter named Slum Bharath was killed in an encounter with the police here in the wee hours of Thursday.

According to police, Bharath's associates attacked the police vehicle carrying him at around 2 am and fired two rounds at officers and police officials.

Bharath managed to flee with his associates in a car. 

He was later nabbed after the special team was informed at around 5 am that the accused's car was moving towards Hesaragatta near Soladevanahalli.

Bharath succumbed after he was shot by senior police officer Venkataramanappa who responded to his open firing. He was the prime accused in the murder of history-sheeter Srinivas alias Kulla Seena in 2006.