Police paste notices on houses of elusive Sampath Raj

Police have posted notices on the residences of former mayor R Sampath Raj, days after he allegedly disappeared from a hospital.

Raj, a former corporator of the DJ Halli ward, has been charged with instigating a mob to burn the house of MLA R Akhanda Srinivas Murthy in Kaval Byrasandra during the Bengaluru riots on August 11.

Raj was first questioned in August. But when the police asked him to appear for questioning again, he told them that he was hospitalised after testing positive for Covid-19. Police then served a notice on the hospital to inform them before discharging the former mayor. Raj, however, disappeared from the hospital on October 30. Special teams of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) are trying to trace him in the city and the adjoining districts.

A source in the CCB said investigators collected information after visiting his two houses, which prompted them to paste a notice on the walls of the buildings.

"Notices have been pasted on two houses in Pulakeshinagar and the house of his sister. He has to appear at the CCB office in Chamarajpet after seeing the notice. If he fails to do so, we will deem that he is intentionally evading the questioning, and take the necessary action," the source said.