The Central Crime Branch (CCB) arrested the last person named in the FIR over the cheating of an Indira Canteen contractor over the promise of a BJP ticket to contest the May Assembly election from Baindoor.
Abhinava Halashree Swami, who heads a mutt at Hirehadagali near Hosapete, was arrested from a railway station in Cuttack, Odisha, on Monday. He is accused of taking Rs 1.5 crore from Govind Babu Poojari by promising him the BJP ticket.
Six other suspects, including fiery Hindutva activist Chaitra Kundapur, were arrested last week. They are accused of pocketing Rs 3.5 crore from Poojari. Some of them allegedly posed as senior BJP and RSS leaders.
A senior police officer close to the investigation said the swami initially took shelter for a day in a mutt based near Mysuru. But after the arrest of other suspects in the case, he moved to different places by different means of transport, the officer added.
According to police, the swami changed his phone and SIM card every day to make it hard for police to trace him. The officer acknowledged the efforts of the Odisha police and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) at Cuttack in the arrest by cooperating with CCB.
The swami was brought to Bengaluru by air and has been lodged in the CCB technical cell. He will be produced before court on Wednesday, police said.
Published 19 September 2023, 20:06 IST