Unidentified men opened fire at three cars in Vijayapura district on Monday, injuring a repeat offender and his four associates and killing his manager.
Mahadev Sahukar Bhairagonda, 55, whose name figures on the rowdy-sheet of the district police, received three bullet injuries. His manager and relative Baburama Maruti Kanchanal, 64, nd Lakshman Khogaon, 25, driver, Jagbir Singh, 36, Husseini Basavaraj Bhajantri, 28, and Ramesh Kumar, 25, all his personal security staff, were injured. They were all admitted to a private hospital in Vijayapura. However, Baburama Kanchanal was declared brought dead.
The police said that three cars carrying the Bhairagonda party were on their way from Vijayapura city to Chadachan via Bhutanal.
At Kannal Cross, a tipper hit one of the cars in which Bhairagonda was sitting. In a few moments, around eight-10 unidentified men gathered around the cars and began throwing stones at them. They also opened fire at them. The windowpanes were damaged and Bhairagonda, Baburama Kanchanal and others were injured. The accused left the tipper at the spot and fled in other different vehicles.
Meanwhile, family members of Bhairagonda have suspected that their long-time rivals, the Chadachan family, were behind the attack. Bhairagonda is facing charges of killing Gangadhar Chadachan in 2017.
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He said that it was a planned attack as per initial information. A case has been registered at the Vijayapura Rural Police Station. Investigators say that long-standing rivalry between the two families could have led to the attack.
Three years ago, the Chadachan brothers, Gangadhar (28) and Dharmaraj (32), were killed on October 30. It was alleged by the Chadachan family members that the police had eliminated Dharmaraj in a fake encounter and then, handed over Gangadhar to the Bhairagonda gang members who murdered him.
Vimala Bai, mother of the Chadachan brothers, approached the Kalaburagi Bench of the High Court of Karnataka saying that the police had killed her son Dharmaraj in a fake encounter, after receiving illegal consideration from the Bairagonda gang.
The woman’s complaint said that the police handed over Dharmaraj’s brother Gangadhar to the rival gang which then killed him in cold blood.
A detailed inquiry was conducted by the district police that led to the arrest of four policemen and two members of the Bairagonda gang. The policemen were charged with kidnapping Gangadhar and handing him over to the Bhairagonda gang to enable it to kill him, and then assist the gang to dispose of the victim’s body in the Bhima river.
According to a complaint by the Chadachan family, police officers picked up the Chadachan brothers from their house on October 30. In a few hours, Dharmaraj was killed in an encounter with a team of officers led by Sub-Inspector of Police Gopal Hallur.
Mr. Gopal Hullur and constables Chandrashekhar Jadhav, Geddeppa Naikodi and Siddaruda Rugi of the Chadchan Police Station were arrested.
The State government asked the Criminal Investigation Department take up the case of abduction and murder of Gangadhar. The inquiry into the incident is still on.
A magisterial inquiry was ordered into the fake encounter in which Dharmaraj was killed.
