JOIN USRavi Poojary associate held in City
Tolar, 33, who sustained injuries on his leg, has been admitted to Victoria Hospital and is stated to be out of danger.
The police launched a search operation after being tipped that Tolar was hiding in the City. They had also received information that Tolar was likely to pass through the Jnanabharati premises on Sunday morning in his car (KA 05 D 5542). A police team arrived near Jnanabharati and waited for him.
Around 4.15 am, Tolar entered Jnanabharati from Mysore Road and the team led by police inspector Bale Gowda chased him. Three police inspectors were also waiting near the administrative block of the Jnanabharati campus. On seeing the police, Tolar drove his car along a footpath and rammed it into a borewell. He alighted from the car and opened fire at the cops.
In retaliation, police inspectors S K Umesh and N H Siddappa shot at his leg and Tolar collapsed on the spot sustaining injuries. The police fired two shots at the wheels of Tolar’s car, deflating the tyres. Later, they arrested him and shifted him to a hospital.
Tolar became the successor of Pandu Pai, another aide of Poojary, after Pai’s death last month. He was staying at the residence of Sunil Shetty, another aide of Poojary, in the City. Shetty is a manager with Janani Travels on Bannerghatta Road.
With the help of Shetty’s two associates, Shabbir and Gadwin Chetan, Tolar would collect telephone numbers of builders, contractors and businessmen. He would pass on the numbers and other details to Poojary, who would then make threatening calls, demanding money. Chetan was an associate of Muttappa Rai, who is involved in murder, attempts-to-murder and extortion cases. He is an accused in the killing of Seena in 1994 in K S Layout police limits.
Poojary’s six associates were nabbed two months ago, while seven others were arrested on June 11. The number of Poojary’s associates arrested has gone up to 14.