BENGALURU: Notorious underworld don Bannanje Raja, who was brought to Bengaluru by a police team on Friday, after he was extradited from Morocco, had reportedly threatened the head of the team - Inspector General of Police and Additional Commissioner, Law & Order (Bengaluru), Pratap Reddy and Superintendent of Police (Udupi) K. Annamalai soon after he was handed over in their custody by the Moroccan police in Rabat.
“Bannanje had researched about the IGP and SP, who had gone to bring him from Morocco and asked them to identify themselves. He then threatened them saying that they should know who he was. He was perhaps apprehensive that he may be encountered and asked the cops to leave him. But he has sobered down now and even told the to District Principal & Sessions Judge P. Krishna Bhat, KCOCA in Belagavi, where he was produced last evening that he was well taken care of by the police during the transit from Morocco to Bengaluru,” said an official source.
Bannanje is now in high security police custody in Udupi and will be interrogated for his alleged involvement in the December 2013 R.N. Naik murder case. The high profile murder was a supari killing at the alleged behest of Bannanje and executed by four assailants, including Akash alias Vivek Kumar Upadhya, 27, Jagadish Patel, 24 from Varanasi and Jagadeesh from Chikballapur.
The fugitive don, who had ruled Karnataka's underworld for more than a decade from Dubai and Casablanca through his henchmen across the country is now reportedly “remorseful” and is “co-operating” with the police, said the officer on condition of anonymity. “He has been a fugitive for more than a decade. He is suddenly remorseful and feels for his parents,” said the officer.
The story behind Bannanje's arrest and extradition involves painstaking work by the State police, Interpol and Morocco police. “Out of the 44 criminal cases that are registered against him in the State, the police had given foolproof evidence and documents to Morocco police in 15 cases, which finally led to his arrest in Casablanca in February this year and extradition,” the officer added.
