Gangster Bannaje Raja and 7 others get life, for murder

Bengaluru: In the murder case of Ankola's businessman and BJP leader RN Nayak, the infamous gangster Bannanje Raja along with 7 other convicts was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act (KCOCA) court in Belagavi on Monday.

The court had delivered the verdict holding 9 of the accused guilty of the crime last week. The accused sentenced to life imprisonment are Gangster Bannanje Raja of Udupi, Jagadish Patel of Uttar Pradesh, Abjaji Bandugora of Vijayapura, Manjunatha Narayan Bhat of Karkala, Acchangi Mahesh, Santhosh from Sullia, Jagadish Chandra Aras, and Ankith

Kumar Kashyap, whereas KM Ismail of Kerala was sentenced to 5 years rigorous imprisonment.

The court had acquitted 3 accused in the case. Three other accused Nazim Neelavara of Bhatkal, Haji Amin Basha of Mangaluru and Suleiman Zainuddin of Sakleshpura are still absconding.

As Rs 3 crore hafta was demanded from RN Nayak by Bannanje Raja, which Nayak had refused. For this reason, Bannaje Raja had got him killed on December 21, 2013.

After investigation, police had named 16 accused in the case. Of which, 13 accused, including Bannanje Raja, have been arrested. Bannanje Raja is the 9th accused in the 500-page charge sheet prepared and submitted to the court by the police.

Now, Raja is behind bars serving his sentence in the Hindalaga jail in Belagavi. The dreaded gangster Bannanje Raja has a total of 48 cases of hafta, extortion, murder, and arms offenses in various police stations in Udupi, Mangaluru, Uttara Kannada, Bangalore, Mysuru, and Shivamogga.