Cops raid houses of 'Agni' Sridhar, aide Bachchan

The police on Tuesday conducted raids on the houses of 'reformed' underworld don ‘Agni’ Sridhar and his close associate Syed Ammanullah alias Bachchan in Kumaraswamy Layout and Isro Layout respectively. The police arrested seven people and seized firearms, lethal weapons, drugs, foreign-made liquor, gold jewellery and around Rs 7 lakh cash.

The police could not arrest Sridhar as he complained of chest pain, and was admitted to a super-speciality hospital. Sridhar has been named accused number one in the case registered in the Kumaraswamy Layout police station.

The police said Dasanapura APMC president Kadabagere Srinivas who was shot at on Friday has an associate named ‘Tata’ Ramesh, a businessman. Ramesh lodged a complaint with the Yelahanka police that Sathish Reddy, Rohit and ‘Onte’ Sunil had threatened him that he would be the next target after Srinivas. The Yelahanka police arrested Reddy on Monday and during interrogation they learnt that Rohit and Sunil were taking shelter at Sridhar's house in Kumaraswamy Layout, police sources said.

The police then approached the court and obtained warrants to search the houses of Sridhar and his associate. On Tuesday morning, the police combed Sridhar’s house and found huge stocks of foreign-made liquor. They informed the Excise department staff, who joined the police team and seized the stock that was way beyond permissible storage limit at a residence. The Excise department registered a separate case.

A police team simultaneously raided Bachchan's house at Prashanthi Nagar in Isro Layout. The police seized four revolvers with several rounds of ammunition, two machetes, two button knives, four baseball bats, three daggers, two pokers and two knives, Rs. 6.88 lakh cash, 418 gm of gold jewellery and marijuana. The team arrested Bachahan and six others and booked them under the Arms Act for possessing firearms and under the Private Security Regulation Authority Act for having bodyguards and security personnel without registration.

The others arrested are Brij Bushan Hussain Pandey, 38, of Gorakhpur; Ramkumar Rai, 37, of Aazamgad; Sabir Ali, 51, of Ambedkar Nagar in Sikandarpur; (all from Uttar Pradesh), Tanveer, 34, of Banashankari 2nd stage; Arun Kumar, 24, of Kanakapura and Varun Kumar, 20, of Kumaraswamy Layout.

The 60-member police team led by Hemanth Nimbalkar, Additional commissioner of Police (East) included DCP (Northeast) P S Harsha and DCP (South) Sharanappa. The raids that began at 9.30 am went on till 3.30 pm.

Residents of Kumaraswamy Layout and the adjoining Isro Layout were shocked as a huge contigent of policemen took position on the bylanes while teams led by the DCPs raided the houses of Sridhar and Bachchan.
DH News Service

Gangster held at hospital
Gangsters Rohit and ‘Onte’ Sunil, who learnt about Sridhar’s hospitalisation, came to Sagar Hospitals to visit him on Tuesday evening. ACP Ravi Kumar and his staff were there awaiting Sridhar’s recovery to arrest him. The police were quick enough to arrest Rohit. Later, Sunil surrendered before the Yelahanka police on Tuesday night, police sources said.

Sridhar in hospital with ‘unstable angina’
Agni Sridhar was rushed to Sagar Hospital in the city on Tuesday after he complained of severe chest pain. Dr Kishore K S, chief cardiologist, Sagar Hospitals said Sridhar had not suffered a heart attack. He has had an acute coronary syndrome or unstable angina. This is a typical warning sign before heart attacks. If the patient is not attended to immediately, this could result in a heart attack. “What he had were warning signs of a heart attack. However, he is stable and is under the care of a cardiac team,” said Dr Kishore. Sridhar is a cardiac patient and had to be rushed to the emergency department soon after he complained of discomfort in the chest. In 2012, he underwent two angioplasties. He is also a diabetic,” Dr Kishore added.