Ravi Belagere hospitalised as Bengaluru police investigate alleged murder charge

Controversial journalist and editor of the ‘Hi Bangalore’ tabloid Ravi Belagere was admitted to Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru on Sunday while in police custody.

Ravi’s lawyers were reportedly preparing to file a bail petition on grounds of his deteriorating health.

Ravi is in police custody after being arrested on Friday by Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths for allegedly plotting the murder of his colleague Sunil Heggaravalli.

On Saturday, police searched Ravi’s residences in multiple location in search of incriminating evidence. His laptop and other gadgets were also seized for investigation. His phone records are being looked into and his farmhouse in Uttara Kannada district was raided.

Ravi’s arrest came after police had picked up sharpshooter Shashidhar Ramachadra Mundewadi, which followed the arrest of Tahir Hussain alias Anoop Gowda for trying to sell an illegal country-made pistol.

 Bengaluru police arrest Kannada journalist Ravi Belagere on charges of contracting a murder

 According to investigators at the CCB, Tahir said he had supplied a gun to Mundewadi to carry out Sunil’s murder. Mundewadi claimed that he was paid to kill Sunil by Ravi.

According to reports, Sunil had an affair with Ravi’s second wife, Yashomathi, and that is why Ravi wanted to eliminate Sunil.

Subsequent search at his residence resulted in the seizure of a revolver, 53 live rounds, a used bullet, a double-barrel gun and 41 live rounds, a deer skin and a tortoise shell. However, Ravi has denied all the allegations.

Ravi’s daughter Bhavana on Saturday also expressed confidence in her father walking free in the case.

“No one has filed an FIR in this case... It is a suo-motu case by the police based on Shahi’s (the contract killer) statement. There is no meaning in it,” Bhavana was quoted by the PTI.

“I'm very confident he is not guilty. He has not done anything and will be out of it safely very soon,” she added.

Earlier on Sunday, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the government would not interfere with the investigations pertaining to Ravi Belagere.

Speaking to press persons near his residence, the CM said, “The government will not interfere with the investigation. The police will follow the law and based on evidence, they will go about the investigation.”

Ravi was due for arrest by the police on the direction of the state Assembly in a privilege case before the Karnataka High Court stayed the order.

Ravi, along with Yelahanka Voice editor Anil Raju, had been sentenced in June to one year in prison and fined Rs 10,000 each by the Assembly Speaker after both allegedly published defamatory articles against two MLAs— one from the Congress and one from the BJP.