28 July,2009 09:04 AM IST | | Imran Gowhar
That's what residents say. But police insist that the rowdy who was hacked to death had an eye on the BBMP polls
BULLET Ravi, who was hacked to death by a rival gang in Yelahanka yesterday, was a rowdy-sheeter for the police and a hero for the locals.
Hundreds of Yelahanka residents gathered in front of Columbia Asia Hospital where Ravi, 37, was rushed for treatment. They shouted slogans against the police and the media for branding their hero as a rowdy.
"He hadn't committed any crime in the past three years and was generous to the poor. Anyone who went to him with a problem never returned empty-handed," a resident said.
However, police maintained that Ravi had two murder cases, two attempts to murder and a robbery case pending against him.u00a0 However, since he was not involved in any crime recently, we were not keeping a watch on him, they said.
Ravi was planning to contest the BBMP elections and was preparing the ground for elections by wooing the people and staying out of trouble, police said.
How it happened
Ravi and his associates, Srinivasa and Vasu, had gone to Fitness World in Yelahanka when they were attacked by an armed gang who threw chili powder at them and hacked them. Srinivas died on the spot while Ravi and Vasu were rushed to hospital where Ravi died later.
Raju, Ravi's elder brother who led the protest, said he suspected a police nexus and demanded an inquiry.
According to him, a seriously-injured Ravi had spoken to his wife Lakshmi and two sons while in hospital. "A little later, we came to know that he had died due to loss of blood," Raju said.
He alleged that a cop from Nelamangala would confront him since Ravi was into real estate business and had helped many people to get their land back, thus antagonizing other realtors, he added.
Raju suspects that Ravi's old friend, Harish, could have tipped off the rival gang about Ravi's movements.
Warnings in vain
Ravi's eldest sister, Sudha, said she always warned him about his rivals and asked him to shift house. "But since he was born and brought up in Yelahanka, he preferred not to move out," she said.
She said neighbours and residents who noticed people monitoring Ravi's movements had informed him. But he did not heed the warnings.
Deputy commissioner of police (north east) Basavaraj Malagatti thinks it could be a case of rivalry but is not ruling out the hand of the real estate mafia.
