Bengaluru: Former gangster Agni Sridhar's house raided

Bengaluru: It was day of arrests and surrenders in the city on Tuesday. The North East division police, which is probing the shootout case, in which APMC President Kadabagere Seena was injured and the case in which his close aide had received threat calls, raided the house of gangster-turned-writer Agni Sridhar on charges of providing shelter to those accused in the threat case.

On finding a stash of lethal weapons, including fire arms at his house, the police arrested seven people. As Sridhar, who collapsed complaining of high blood pressure and difficulty in breathing, was rushed to hospital, two notorious rowdies, Rohit alias Onte Rohith and Sunil alias Silent Sunila, whom the police were actually looking for, came to visit him and subsequently arrested by the police.

Seena's friend Tata Ramesh, a businessman, is a Congress worker and close aide of Seena. On February 1, just two days before the shootout, he had allegedly received threat calls from rowdy Rohith and Satish, a close associate of Yelahanka MLA S. R. Vishwanath.

He had filed a complaint with the Yelahanka police, who arrested Satish and his questioning revealed that Agni Sridhar had provided shelter to the other accused Rohith. Following the information, the police obtained search warrant from the court and raided Sridhar's house at ISRO Layout in Kumaraswamy Layout police station limits.

Sridhar, who was believed to be a 'reformed' gangster, was found to have stashed lethal weapons, including two country made revolvers, in his house. The search that started around 6 am in the morning continued till late in the evening. Sridhar, who was grilled over six hours, reportedly collapsed due to high BP and difficulty in breathing. Continuing their search, the police teams found another stash of weapons in the house of Syed Aman alias Bacchan, the close aide of Sridhar.

By evening, the police formally arrested seven people - Syed Aman alias Ahmadulla Sharif alias Bacchan, 54, Brij Bhushan Hussain Pandey, 38, Ramkumar Roy, 37, Sabir Ali, 51, all hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Tanveer, 34, a resident of Banashankari, Arun Kumar, 24, of Kanakapura and Varun Kumar, 20, of Kumaraswamy Layout.

The police have seized four revolvers, live bullets, 11 lethal weapons, four baseball bats, 418 grams of gold jewels, Rs 6.88 lakh in cash and ganja from the residence of the Bacchan, located few metres away from Sridhar's house.

While Sridhar was undergoing treatment at hospital, accused Rohit turned up at the hospital in the evening. The police took him into custody and arrested later. Within an hour after his arrest, another rowdy Silent Sunila also surrendered to the police.

Sridhar to be arrested
Police said that the investigations revealed that Rohit was in constant touch with Sridhar over phone and he will be made an accused in the threat call case. "Once he is discharged from the hospital, he will be arrested. However, it is clear that he is not involved in the shootout case," an official said.

Meanwhile, it was found that Sridhar had stocked imported liquor beyond permissible limits in the house. Based on this information excise department officials rushed to his house and seized liquor bottles. Sridhar, who runs a Kannada tabloid, 'Agni', had started an outfit named 'Karunada Sene' and rowdies Sunila and Rohit are office-bearers of the organisation.

He has written several books and has produced and directed a few Kannada movies. Interestingly, he had announced a movie named 'Silent Sunila' based on the life story of rowdy Sunila, who was also supposed to play the lead role.

Sunila is a rowdy sheeter of Rajajinagar and Subramanyanagar police stations and he gained notoriety after murdering rowdy Bekkinakannu Rajendra, who had unleashed terror in the city in 90s, in 2004.

Both Sridhar and Bacchan are rowdy sheeters of Kumaraswamy Layout police station, while Rohit is a history sheeter in Subramanyanagar police station.

No headway in shootout case
Despite all this exercises, the police are yet to stumble upon definite clues regarding those behind the shootout. There were reports that Onte Rohith and Sunila were paid Rs 3 crore to eliminate Seena, but no official sources confirmed it and maintained that the Tuesday’s operation was just about the case related to threat calls to Tata Ramesh.

Rushed to hospital after ‘chest pain’
‘Reformed’ gangster turned writer Agni Shridhar was rushed to the Sagar Hospital on Tuesday evening, after he complained of severe chest pain. However, the doctors said that he did not suffer a heart attack.

Shridhar, a cardiac patient, had to be rushed to the emergency department soon after he complained of discomfort. "In 2012, he underwent two angioplasties and is also a diabetic," said Dr Kishore K.S., chief cardiologist, Sagar Hospitals.

Sridhar's condition is being evaluated as he has had an acute coronary syndrome or unstable angina. This is a typical warning sign before heart attacks. If the patient is not attended to immediately, this could result in a heart attack, he added.

“What he had were warning signs of a heart attack. However, he is stable and is under the care of a cardiac team,” said Dr Kishore.