A 39-year-old fake MLA accused of conning crores out of gold jewellers has surrendered himself to a court.
L Somanna, of Sahakaranagar, had escaped from police custody in Chitradurga on April 11. Police had taken him there to help identify the jeweller who had bought the ill-gotten gold articles from him. Somanna managed to hoodwink the police on the pretext of using the restroom and escaped from their clutches.
He was on the run ever since. He approached relatives and friends across Karnataka seeking shelter but no one gave him refuge. Finally, he went to a friend named Balaji (48) who agreed to provide him shelter. Somanna lived with Balaji's family for a few days before deciding to surrender himself to the 5th ACMM court on Friday. Police sought to take Somanna into custody for questioning, but the magistrate sent him to jail.
Police have arrested Balaji, his wife Saritha (37) and their associates Vijay Kumar (49) from Sahakaranagar for sheltering Somanna.
Published 21 April 2018, 19:00 IST