Former underworld don Muthappa Rai’s loyalist arrested for attack on son Ricky

Suspect worked as gunman for underworld don Muthappa Rai for 27 years, police say.

Bengaluru: The police have arrested a loyalist of former underworld don Muthappa Rai for the gun attack on his son, Ricky Rai, last week.

R Srinivas Gowda, Superintendent of Police, Ramanagar, confirmed to DH that Vittal Monappa was taken into custody on Thursday evening.

A court has remanded him in police custody for 10 days.

The police are investigating if Monappa acted alone or had an accomplice. His motive also remains unclear.

Monappa, 53, was a gatekeeper at Ricky’s house in Bidadi. Before that, he had served as a gunman to Muthappa for nearly three decades, and Ricky grew up in his supervision, according to the police.

Ricky, 33, was shot in his moving black Toyota Fortuner from a distance of less than 50 metres near his Bidadi house in the early hours of April 19.

Investigations revealed that the assailant hid behind a cement wall and fired from a shotgun.

The bullet pierced the car door and through the driver’s seat before hitting a metal rod inside the seat and breaking into four. One part hit the other side of the door, the second fell down, the third gashed Ricky’s arm, and the fourth his nose.

A senior police officer part of the investigation explained that hard metal bullets are used for normal pistols and lead ones for a shotgun. Lead, a soft metal, breaks into pieces if it comes in contact with sharp objects — a hard metal, in this case.

Bullet samples, along with those recovered from the spot and seven guns used by Ricky’s gunmen, have been sent for forensic examination, and a report is awaited, the officer added.

The police suspected an insider because the attacker was aware of Ricky’s movements. They questioned Monappa on Tuesday. He was later hospitalised and discharged on Thursday. The police questioned him again and placed him under arrest.

In his police complaint, Ricky's driver, Basavaraju G, named four suspects: Rakesh Malli, Muthappa’s friend-turned-foe; Muthappa’s second wife, Anuradha; Nitesh Shetty, a businessman; and Vaidyanathan, Shetty’s friend.

The police are ascertaining whether Monappa has links with any of them and acted at their behest.

The police said Anuradha and Ricky had disagreements over Muthappa's inheritance, and Malli supported her. Ricky also has an ongoing litigation with Shetty about a land parcel near Devanahalli.

Staged?

The police also suspect that the entire incident could have been staged.

They see inconsistencies in the driver's statement. The assailant didn't fire at Ricky when he had gotten off the car and checked the tyre two hours earlier. Ricky's driver didn't return fire, too.

Narayanswamy, Rai’s family advocate, denied that the incident was staged.

According to him, Monappa had been asking for a site, which was delayed due to some reasons. He suggested that Monappa ganged up with one of the four suspects to harm Ricky.

Who is Vittal Monappa?

Vittal Monappa, a native of Madapura near Somwarpet, Kodagu, served as Muthappa Rai's gunman. After Muthappa's death, he continued to work as a gunman for Ricky, who has two more gunmen.

In 1993, Monappa was arrested for killing a man who is said to have used an offensive word for Muthappa. He was released on bail six months later and was eventually acquitted.

There was speculation that Muthappa had killed the person, but Monappa took the blame.

The crime scene

Nearly 100 acres of Ricky’s land lies on one side of the road, while the other side has an undeveloped layout owned by a Karnataka minister. The layout is barricaded with cement walls with huge holes in between. The assailant fired from behind the compound.

Gowramma, the caretaker of the layout, said she was asleep in her house at the time of the incident and didn’t hear any sound.

According to her, the layout gate is closed around 6 pm and reopened around 7 am, though there are multiple side entries.