Kannada actor Jagadish S Hosamath was arrested on Sunday by the Central Crime Branch police, along with three others, after two 7.65mm country-made firearms were found on them. In addition to the weapons, 10 rounds of bullets were also recovered.
The three were making the delivery to a financier, who is an accused in a currency conversion racket. The financier, too, has been taken into custody.
Jagadish, also known as Jaguar Jaggi, had starred in a movie titled Sarkar: The Bullet, which released in March. The 31-year-old actor claims that he is innocent and that he was merely delivering a package for a friend. He also claimed that he was not aware of the contents of the package.
The other accused have been identified as Mohammed Nizam (25), Syed Sameer (32), and Syed’s associate BG Sathish Kumar (44).
According to the police, Mohammed had sold a pistol and 10 rounds of ammunition to Jagadish. “We received an information that Mohammed was into illegal arms trade. A police team raided his house. He confessed to selling the weapon to the actor,” the police reportedly said.
In addition, Kothanur police also seized Rs 1.98 crore of demonetised currency from Syed’s residence in K Narayanapura. According to the police, Syed had collected around Rs 3.5 crore demonetised cash from several businessmen, promising them to give new notes in exchange. When they began threatening him for not giving them the promised money, he planned to arrange for the pistols for self-defence.
Mohammed and Jagadish were arrested on October 23 when they were waiting to drop off the pistol to Satish. Based on the information by the duo, the police later arrested Syed and Satish as well.
The police have booked the four under the Arms Act, and all are in judicial custody at present.