Weapon puja: Muthappa Rai's security agency booked

After a video of N Muthappa Rai, the flamboyant gangster-turned-Kannada activist, doing puja of weapons went viral last week, the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police have filed a complaint against the owner of Black Cat Security and Services Agency for providing him security without having the required license.

Murugendraiah, CCB Police inspector of Organized Crime Wing, filed a complaint at Cottonpet police station against K Vasanth Poovaiah, owner of the agency along with seven others including the bodyguards of Rai for violating the Private Security Regulation Act.

CCB issued a notice to Rai during Ayudha Puja festival after he uploaded a video on Facebook of doing puja to a cache of weapons including revolvers, pistols, Smooth-Bore Breech Loading gun. The video went viral and was widely shared on WhatsApp.

The police sought an explanation with documentary proof for the weapons shown in the video. Rai later appeared before ACP OCW and explained that the weapons belonged to the security men who he had hired for his personal protection.

The CCB police found that, the licence for firearms was issued to the men for seld-defence alone and they are not allowed to use the weapons to protect Rai. The police found that the security men hired by Rai violated the rules.

Later inquiries also revealed that, Poovaiah did not have the required license for his agency nor did he have an official agreement with Rai to provide him with armed security.

A senior police officer said that Rai had uploaded the video to create a sense of fear among the general public. He was not named in the complaint but left with a stern warning.