The contract Kannada journalist Ravi Belagere allegedly took out to kill his colleague Sunil Heggaravalli was a meticulously planned operation, said senior police officials on Friday.
“Mr. Belagere played a key role and even provided the hitman with a gun and ammunition to carry out the job,” one of the officials said.
According to Mr. Heggaravalli — who works in the tabloid Hi Bangalore that Mr. Belagere owns and edits — Mr. Belagere even lured him back to work with him in September, though he had quit the job over personal differences. “[It was] something he did to get me killed. I realise now in the hindsight,” he told mediapersons on Friday.
Shashidhar Ramachandra Mundewadi, the alleged supari killer with a history of three murder cases and several arms cases, was known to Mr. Belagere for over a decade now. He was an acquaintance the journalist had made during his research on gang wars in Indi, Vijayapura district, on which he published a book in 2001, according to the police.
Mr. Heggaravalli said Mundewadi was known to him as a few years ago he worked in Hi Bangalore office as a supervisor for security men for nearly a year.
According to a police statement, Mundewadi told the police that he was asked to meet Mr. Belagere at his office along with his associate, Viju Badiger, on August 28, 2017.
Mr. Belagere allegedly gave him a gun, four live bullets and a knife, and asked him to kill Mr. Heggaravalli the same day. Mundewadi told the police that Mr. Belagere gave him ₹15,000 as an advance and promised him to pay the largest sum he had ever got for a hit job if he executed the task efficiently. The police have not arrested Badiger, who is absconding.
He even alleged that Mr. Belagere organised a car and an employee of the paper to show them where Mr. Heggaravalli lived — an apartment at Vasanthpura, near Uttarahalli. Mundewadi did a reconnaissance of the area and even tried to take a shot at Mr. Heggaravalli that very night when he was entering the building, according to the police statement.
CCTV cameras
The police said Mundewadi also developed cold feet as there were CCTV cameras around the building. He allegedly returned the firearm and the ammunition to Mr. Belagere and said he would execute the task a month later.
Mr. Belagere and Mr. Heggaravalli had a bitter fallout in June–July over personal issues and the latter had resigned from his job at Hi Bangalore by August 28. “But following the murder of Gauri Lankesh on September 5, Belagere called me and said he missed a reporter like me. As he was ill, he requested me to join him back and report on Gauri’s killing, which I did. But now I realise he lured me back to backstab and kill me,” Mr. Heggaravalli claimed in his interviews to the media on Friday following Mr. Belagere’s arrest.
The hitman could not complete the job as he was arrested by the Miraj police (Maharashtra) on September 14 for illegal gunrunning, police sources said. He got out on bail by October last week.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner T. Suneel Kumar said Mundewadi also made a second attempt on the life of Mr. Heggaravalli in October, but refused to give details.
Electronic evidence
Another senior official leading the probe said apart from the statement by Mundewadi, they had a cache of electronic evidence, including call records linking Mundewadi with Belagere. Mr. Heggaravalli, in his statement to the police, claimed to have seen Mundewadi near his house in August, giving rise to suspicions on Mr. Belagere ordering a hit on him.
SIT probing Gauri case tipped off police about hitman
The police stumbled upon the plot to kill journalist Sunil Heggaravalli during their probe into the murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh.
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 a hitman and gunrunner from the region, Tahir Hussain — who had no role in the Gauri murder case — was in Bengaluru and tipped off the Bengaluru police.
It was his arrest in Bengaluru on December 3 that led to uncovering the Ravi Belagere hit-job plot. Shashidhar Ramachandra Mundewadi, the hitman now arrested, knew Hussain from their gunrunning network.
After he was released on bail in an arms case in the last week of October, he came and contacted Hussain in Bengaluru on an unrelated mission.
Hussain’s arrest and a careful probe of his call records led the police to Mundewadi, who spilled the beans on contract by Mr. Belagere. Mr. Belagere and Hussain are not acquainted with each other.
‘There is no corroborative evidence’
Speaking to The Hindu , journalist Ravi Belagere’s counsel Shankarappa V. rubbished the allegations, saying the case was based only on a sensational claim made by a hitman in police custody and that there was no corroborative evidence.
“There have been a series of cases against my client in the recent past, including a privilege motion in the Legislative Assembly. We suspect a conspiracy targeting my client,” he said, and added that Mr. Belagere’s arrest was uncalled for since he suffered from severe illness.
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The key players according to the police
Ravi Belagere: Put out the contract
He hails from Ballari
Kannada writer and journalist who started the Kannada tabloid Hi Bangalore in 1995, which he edits
He is in the middle of a controversy after a resolution was passed by the Karnataka Legislative Assembly sentencing him and the editor of another publication to one year imprisonment for breach of privilege
The High Court of Karnataka recently stayed their arrest
Sunil Heggaravalli: Intended target
Senior crime reporter working with Ravi Belagere at Hi Bangalore for over 15 years
He had a bitter fallout with Belagere in June–July over personal issues and quit the job
He rejoined in September at the behest of Belagere after Gauri Lankesh was murdered
Shashidhar Ramachandra Mundewadi: The hitman
He hails from Indi, Vijayapura district
Known supari killer; has three murder cases against him: that of Muttu Master in 2006, Basappa Harijan in 2013, and Suresh Lalasangi in 2014
He is also a gunrunner and was arrested in an arms case by the Miraj police in September 2017
He has been known to Belagere for over a decade. He also worked in his office for nearly a year as a security supervisor, a few years ago
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The trail to Belagere
SIT probing murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh investigates all known gunrunners from Indi, Vijayapura district, to trace the source of the murder weapon
SIT tips-off Bengaluru police that Tahir Hussain, a gunrunner unrelated to the Gauri case, was in Bengaluru
CCB police arrest Hussain on December 3 on the charge of attempting to kidnap a businessman at Yeshwantpur. His call records reveal he was in contact with Mundewadi
Police track down Mundewadi and arrest him on Thursday night. His call records showed he was in touch with Belagere. He confesses to having taken a contract from Belagere
What the police recovered
A revolver and 53 live bullets
A double-barelled gun and 41 live bullets
Deer skin
Turtle shell
