Bengaluru: Former corporator and rowdy Nagaraj alias Bomb Naga, who is absconding for the last few days, is learnt to have applied for anticipatory bail at a local court to evade arrest. Naga, whose whereabouts are still not known, has moved the court against his arrest in connection with hoarding of demonetised currency notes at his house in Srirampura. The police during a raid on his house on April 14 had seized Rs 14.80 crore in scrapped currency notes of denomination Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.
Sources said that Naga has claimed before the court that he knew nothing about the banned currency notes which were seized from his house. He has further told the court that he has got a good image among the public through his social service, but it is being maligned by the police.
“The police are trying to malign my name based on a complaint filed by a person named Umesh, who is an accused in currency conversion case. I do not know how the money was seized from my house and I suspect it to be a well-organised plot to tarnish my image," Naga said in the bail application.
The Hennur police had raided Naga’s house following a complaint from Umesh, who stated that Naga had kidnapped him on March 18 and extorted Rs 50 lakh and gold ornaments from him and his other friends.
Umesh was previously arrested by the Central Crime Branch police on April 2 along with 13 others, including MLC Veeranna Mathikatti for trying to exchange Rs 9.1 crore banned currency notes. He was later released on bail.
The police, however, said that they have not received any communication from the court on Naga’s anticipatory bail application. But the police would file objection if Naga approaches the court, they said.
The police have intensified their search for Naga and his two sons Gandhi and Shastry, who are suspected to be hiding in Tamil Nadu. There were also reports that he might surrender before a court.
