Ravi Belagere, editor of Hai Bangalore, was arrested from his home in Bengaluru.
The editor of a weekly tabloid in Karnataka has been arrested for allegedly hiring a contract killer to murder a colleague, the police have said. The police said Ravi Belagere, the editor of Kannada tabloid
Hai Bangalore, was arrested on Friday after he was named by the man he allegedly hired to kill Sunil Heggaravanahalli. The motive is believed to be personal enmity, the police said, but the killing was not carried out.
Shashidhar Mundewadi, who was allegedly hired to kill Mr Heggaravanahalli was caught after the police said they arrested another contract killer Tahir Hussain for owning illegal weapons. "Shashidhar Mundewadi is (wanted) in three murder cases and one arms case. He purchased a gun from Tahir," Karnataka home minister R Ramalinga Reddy said. A revolver, a double barrel gun and nearly 100 bullets were found at Shashidhar's Bengaluru residence, The New Minute reported.
Mr Heggaravalli told news agency PTI that he was shocked when he learnt that Mr Belagere allegedly wanted to kill him. "It is shocking that Belagere wanted to kill me. I am still associated with
Hai Bangalore. I am not able to figure out why I was the target. Only he can explain the reason. He had spoken to me last night in a cordial manner. We were close to each other," he said.
He claimed that Mundewadi had once come to his house on August 28 as a courier delivery boy as the CCTV footage showed.
Ravi Belagere was one of the two journalists whose arrest had been
ordered by the Karnataka Assembly earlier this year based on
a complaint that they had written offensive articles against legislators. The Privileges Committee of the assembly had said Mr Belagere and Anil Raju of Yelahanka Voice had published articles against legislators
and should go to jail for a year and pay a fine of Rs 10,000.
The arrest order however was stayed by the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday.