An unidentified person fired five bullets at Vijayapura’s notorious history-sheeter Bhagappa Harijan on the district court premises here on Tuesday.
Bhagappa was on the court campus to attend the hearing in a 2014 murder case in which he is accused of killing Basappa Harijan, a supari killer, at Bommanahalli in Sindagi taluk.
The incident occurred when Bhagappa, along with his aides, got off an SUV. An unknown man greeted him, and as Bhagappa reciprocated and walked ahead, the man fired in Bhagappa’s back. As Bhagappa collapsed, the assailant rushed to him and shot four more bullets and fled the spot. A severely injured Bhagappa was rushed to a private hospital. His condition is said to be critical.
Superintendent of Police Kuldeep Jain told reporters that there was no clue of the assailant, except that he fled on a Pulsar motorcylcle. A special team has been constituted to nab the culprit.
Bhagappa is a close relative of Chandappa Harijan, another supari killer who was killed in a police encounter in 2000.