The suicide case of suspended police officer Kallappa Handibag turned murkier on Saturday with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arresting an associate of the prime suspect in the Tejas Gowda kidnap case and recovering Rs 10 lakh.
CID sleuths arrested Pradeep Kamalaksha, an associate of the prime suspect in the kidnap case, Praveen Khandya, in Bengaluru. Kamalaksha, a resident of Basavanahalli in Chikkamagaluru, is a member of Bajrang Dal’s state committee and the VHP’s Shivamogga division secretary. Three suspects in the kidnap case — Khandya, Naveen Shetty and Abhi alias Abhiram alias Abhijit — remain at large.
Kamalaksha runs a canteen in Chikkamagaluru and police believe he helped Khandya in kidnapping financier Tejas Gowda. Police are interrogating him for information about Khandya, Shetty and Abhi. He will be produced before a local court in Chikkamagaluru on Sunday.
Kamalaksha is believed to have confessed to hiding Rs 10 lakh. He led a CID team to the place where the money was stashed. The recovery was made by a team led by the CID’s in-charge Superintendent of Police, U Martin, a highly placed source told Deccan Herald.
Meanwhile, the CID believes that Handibag, who was DySP of Chikkamagaluru subdivision, had walked into a trap laid by his senior officer.
How events unfolded
The story goes like this. Gowda had lost Rs 25 lakh in cricket betting to one Nataraj, who runs Kalmane Chit Fund. He had promised to pay the money in two instalments. But he dilly-dallied.
Nataraj became impatient and got his friend, Khandya, to recover the money from Gowda. Khandya contacted a senior police officer in Chikkamagaluru and requested him to speak to Gowda and make him pay up. The officer agreed but did not follow up.
Khandya decided to take matters in his own hands. His gang kidnapped Gowda and kept him at a house in Sanjaynagar, Bengaluru. Gowda agreed to pay up and asked Khandya to collect Rs 10 lakh from his friend, Pavan.
Khandya contacted the police officer again and requested him to collect the money. But the officer played it safe as it was a financial matter. He deputed Handibag for the job. The officer spoke to Pavan too and asked him to talk to Handibag and give him the money. Pavan did accordingly but recorded the phone conversation.
Confided in batchmates
Khandya’s gang later released Gowda who went on to lodge a police complaint against five people, including Handibag. The DySP was upset at the turn of events. He spoke to some of his batchmates and told them how his senior officer had made a scapegoat.
On July 5, he went to the house of his wife’s grandparents in Belagavi district and committed suicide. The CID has recorded the statements of his batchmates.
Chikkamagaluru town witnessed a total bandh on Saturday over the demand for a CBI probe into Handibag’s suicide.