After almost a month of managing to evade arrest, ex-rowdy sheeter and former BBMP corporator V Nagaraj alias Bomb Naga has finally landed in police custody.
A team of Bengaluru Police East Division headed by DCP Ajay Hillori apprehended Bomb Naga and his two sons Gandhi and Shastri from Arcot in Tamil Nadu on Thursday.
Bomb Naga was on the run since April 14, when a raid by the Hennur police unearthed demonetised currency worth Rs 30 Crore from his residence in Srirampura. Naga had then managed to escape, and has since been on the run. The raid was conducted after the police received a complaint that Naga was involved in a money exchange racket.
Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Praveen Sood told TNM that the trio were arrested after a chase that lasted several minutes. The senior official added that Naga and his sons had been hiding in more than 40 different locations in Tamil Nadu over the last 20 days to evade arrest.
"Our team had been tracking them for the past ten days and arrested them today while they tried to flee in a vehicle. They are now being brought to Bengaluru," the Commissioner said.
According to the police, Bomb Naga is wanted in over 45 cases of attempted murder, extortion, abduction and money laundering in Srirampura police station.
Even as the Bengaluru police had launched a hunt for Naga, he filed an anticipatory bail application in the court on April 22. In his bail plea, Naga claimed that the currency did not belong to him, but to some senior police officials.
“In his plea, he has denied any involvement in anti-social activities. He also said that he has enough wealth that he has earned through hard work. We suspect that he and his two sons are hiding in Tamil Nadu,” an official then told The News Minute.
His wife Lakshmi had claimed no knowledge about such a huge sum of money hidden in the house.
NagRaj ex-corporater arrested by a team led by East DCP Ajay Hilori. Well done team.
— Praveen Sood IPS (@CPBlr) May 11, 2017