CBI arrests maternal uncle of Karnataka Congress leader in murder case

Hubballi:The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Chandrashekhar Indi, relative of former Karnataka minister and Congress leader, Vinay Kulkarni, on Monday from his residence in Dharwad, a senior CBI official told IANS.

The CBI which is probing the murder of former BJP Zilla Panchayat member Yogeshgouda Goudar, has arrested Indi, for procuring and supplying three country made pistols to Basappa Shivappa Muttagi, who executed the murder, the official disclosed.

"Muttagi obtained the weapon from Indi," a CBI official told IANS on the condition of anonymity.

Indi used to attend all the hearings relating to the case and allegedly used to influence the witness, the sources added.

Sources in the police department told IANS that Indi is a maternal uncle of the former minister, who is said to have executed this murder taking help of dreaded "Bhima Gang" of Vijyapura district.

The police said that Indi reportedly had connections there and through them it was executed.

It may be noted that the police had registered a case against six accused, who are all residents of Dharwad. After taking over the investigation on September 24 last year, the CBI arrested eight persons, of whom seven are in judicial custody and one is out on bail.

In May, the CBI also filed a charge sheet against the eight people. The investigation agency said the accused had allegedly come to Dharwad on two occasions in June 2016 and with the support of the other accused allegedly planned the crime.

Earlier, the Karnataka Police had filed a charge sheet in the murder case on September 9, 2016.

Yogeshgouda, then a Zilla Panchayat member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was hacked to death, reportedly over a property dispute in his own gym in Saptapur, Dharwad on June 15, 2016.

Following a plea by the elder brother of Yogeshgouda, Gurunathgouda, the case was handed over to the CBI for investigation.

Gurunathgouda had been making several allegations against some police officials and Vinay Kulkarni, who was the Mines and Geology Minister in the Congress-led government. Gurunathgouda had even accused Kulkarni and his associates of threatening him and at the same time also trying to strike truce.

He had also alleged tampering of evidence in the case. The BJP leaders too had demanded a CBI inquiry, alleging involvement of the Congress leaders, including the then Minister Vinay Kulkarni.

While the then Congress government headed by Siddaramaiah declined to hand over the case to the CBI, the present BJP-led government got the CBI to work on the case.