Kannada film director Harish Satish Kumar and three of his associates have been accused of trying to kill one of their friends.

On the night of July 28, Ashok B, a friend of the director, was walking home, when three men on a bike approached him.

“I was walking on Kuvempu Rangamandira road in Annapoorneshwari layout, when three men on a bike attacked me with wooden sticks and some sharp object,” Ashok B’s complaint reads.

Ashok alleged that it was rowdy-sheeter Satish and his men who attacked him. Ashok managed to escape and file a complaint at the Annapoorneshwari Nagar Police Station

“Ashok managed to escape and came running into the police station on July 28. He immediately filed the complaint. However, rowdy Satish and his men were hiding from us and we nabbed them in the city itself just two days later. Up on its questioning, it was revealed that director Harish had contracted the killing to Satish and his gang,” Inspector Manjunath said.

According to Satish’s statement, director Harish had borrowed Rs 3.5 lakh from Ashok for promotion of his film - Style Raja. Harish had not returned the money and a few weeks ago, Ashok had called Harish and demanded that he return it, which is why Harish planned to kill Ashok, the Inspector added.

Director Harish was arrested by the city’s Central Crime Branch on Sunday.

Harish and the three gangsters have been booked under section 341, 342, 307, 506 and 34 of the IPC.

Style Raja is a romantic action entertainer written and directed by Harish and jointly produced by H N Roopa and Suresh.

Starring Girish Kumar and Anushka Kashvi, the film had not done too well in the box office.