CCB police record statement of Belagere’s second wife

BENGALURU: THE Central Crime Branch (CCB) police on Sunday recorded the statement of Yashomathi, second wife of Ravi Belagere, in the supari case even as the CCB team faces the challenge of extracting information about the case. On Friday, the CCB had arrested Belagere on charges of hiring a contract killer to kill his former employee Suneel Heggaravalli over an alleged personal rivalry. The CCB questioned Yashomathi as a rumour had surfaced that Heggaravalli had an illicit relationship with her, which allegedly led Belagare to try to have him killed. A senior police officer said an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) andtwo police officials recorded Yashomathi’s statement.

She reportedly told the police that she had nothing to say about the case as she has not been in touch with Belagere for the past few years. She clarified that differences between Heggaravalli and Belagere existed over personal issues, but she was in no way connected to them. She was questioned at her house for about two hours by the team. Two of Belagere’s current employees were also questioned in connection with the differences between Belagare and Heggaravalli. Some documents were collected from the office chamber. “Although Belagere is being grilled over the past three days, he has not responded properly to the team. Sometimes, he counter-questions the officials themselves, and sometimes he doesn’t say anything. Thus, it is a challenging task to extract information from him. He was also taken to the hospital multiple times due to his illness, and hence spent less time with the investigation team. On Sunday too, he did not answer many of the questions properly. So we may seek extension of his custody for a few more days. The four days of custody allotted will end on Monday,” the officer said. On Sunday, Belagere was taken to Victoria Hospital for routine medical tests. He suffered an injury while getting down from a wheelchair and his leg was bleeding for a while. After treatment, he was brought to the CCB headquarters, the officer added.

Calls made to Mundewadi from colleague’s mobile phone

CCB officers found that Belagere had made some calls from the phone of one of his colleagues — Lokesh Koppad, a reporter. Koppad was questioned by officers about a couple of calls made to ‘supari killer’ Shashidhar Mundewadi. ACP Subramanya recorded Lokesh’s statement. Lokesh denied having any knowledge of Belagere’s intentions. He said Belagere often used his phone to make calls, and there was no record of him having called Mundewadi. Suneel Heggaravalli on Sunday met City Police Commissioner T Suneel Kumar to seek protection for himself, following which the Commissioner passed an oral order to deploy police personnel at his residence in an apartment in Uttarahalli. “I am approaching the Chief Minister and the Home Minister on Monday with a request to deploy a personal gunman as my life is still under threat,” Heggaravalli told Express. In addition to Lokesh, the CCB team also questioned another employee of Belagere, named Manjunath.

BOOKED UNDER WILDLIFE PROTECTION ACT TOO

Forest officials on Sunday also filed a case against Belagere under the Wildlife Protection Act as CCB police seized a deer skin and a tortoise shell during his arrest. CCB had informed the Forest Department on Saturday to take legal action against Belagere. Forest officers may interrogate him on Monday for further proceedings.