Bengaluru, June 14: The city police on Sunday sent out a strong message to underworld operatives, taking underworld don Ravi Pujari’s close aide Harish Tholar into custody after a shootout that left the gangster wounded.
In an encounter at 5.30 am in Jnanabharathi police limits on Sunday, CCB sleuths fired five rounds at Tholar. Four bullets hit Tholar in the legs and he was admitted to Victoria Hospital for treatment. The police seized a revolver from Tholar and the car he was using.
“He fired at our officers when they tried to intercept his car,” city police commissioner Shankar M. Bidari said. “Our officers fired five rounds at him. He took four bullets in the legs and one bullet hit his car.”
According to Mr Bidari, the police received vital clues about Tholar’s movements after arresting seven of his associates last Thursday. “We collected vital information about Tholar while interrogating them and kept a watch on him after that,” said Mr Bidari.
When the CCB learnt that Tholar would be driving to the city on Mysore Road, two police teams were formed. One entered the Jnanabharathi campus and the other headed towards Mysore Road. The second team soon traced Tholar and gave chase. Realising the cops were on his tail, Tholar stepped on the gas but lost control of the vehicle and ran off the road.
Alerted by their colleagues, the first team reached the spot and asked the gangster to surrender. “Our officers asked him to surrender, but he jumped out of the car and fired at them,” Mr Bidari said. “The officers fired at his legs and brought him down.”
A police officer who was part of the operation said they had no choice but to return fire. “If we didn’t shoot back he could have easily escaped in a thick acacia grove nearby,” he said.
According to the police, Tholar, acting on behalf of Ravi Pujari, extorted money from builders and industrialists in the city. “He collected information about rich businessmen and gave their phone numbers to Pujari who would threaten them,” a police officer said.
Tholar is accused of killing a builder in Mangalore in 2007. “Pujari had demanded money from a builder, Subba Rao. When he refused to give him the money, Pujari ordered Tholar to kill him,” the officer said.
Tholar’s associates in custody are S. Sunil Shetty, 31, B. Godwin Chetan, 43, R. Chandrakanth, 26, Pavan Kumar Shetty, 28, N. Ganesh Bhonsle, 37, Shabbir Jasbir Gilani, 28, and Ajit Kumar Shetty, 30.
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