Bengaluru Riots: Police arrest Congress aide, remanded to judicial custody

Bengaluru Police today arrested Riyazuddin, who is a close aide of Congress leaders Sampath Raj and AR Zakir in the Bengaluru riots case. According to Joint Commissioner of Police CCB Sandeep Patil’s statement, Riyazuddin is a friend of Congress leaders Sampath Raj and Zakir, who are absconding in the DJ Halli riots case. He was arrested on 7th November on charges of helping and harbouring the accused. Riyazuddin drove both the accused persons in his car to a farmhouse near Nagarhole and gave shelter for a few days. Riyazuddin was sent to judicial custody.

Congress Leaders Sampath Raj and Abdul Rakeeb Zakir have been accused of instigating a mob to set the house of MLA R Akhanda Srinivas Murthy in Kaval Byrasandra on fire during the Bengaluru riots that were witnessed on August 11. Raj is a Corporator of the DJ Halli ward. A lookout notice has also been issued by the Central Crime Branch.

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Talking to the media on Thursday, November 12, Home Minister of Karnataka, Basvaraj Bommai said, “We had already issued a lookout against Sampath Raj. CCB teams are trying to hunt him down. We will see that he is arrested as soon as possible.”

The police had initially questioned him in August. When the former mayor was summoned for questioning again, he said that he was tested positive for COVID-19 and was hospitalized. The hospital was served a notice by the police asking them to inform before Raj is discharged.

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Names of Sampath Raj and AR Zakir were also included in the charge sheet filed on the 12th of October. A preliminary charge sheet was filed at 33ACMM court in connection with DJ Halli and KG Halli police station riots. 52 accused were named in the charge sheet.

According to charge sheet reports, Congress leaders along with SDPI instigated the riots in Bengaluru. According to the charge sheet, Congress Corporator and former mayor, Sampath Raj was mentioned as accused no 51 and his friend - Congress Corporator of Fraser town AR Zakir - as Accused no 52.

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The Central Crime Branch (CCB) had arrested Arun Kumar, the personal assistant of DJ Halli BBMP ward Corporator and former Mayor R Sampath Raj in connection with the riots of August 11. Arun Kumar was arrested based on phone call records which reportedly showed that he had made over 10 calls from his phone to the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) leader Muzammil Pasha and others, who were already arrested.

The charge sheet was filed on the basis of video and technical evidence. The 850-pages charge sheet was filed with the help of a preliminary investigation. More than 30 eyewitness reports have also been filed in the charge sheet. Efforts are on to trace him in Bengaluru and surrounding districts. The Central Crime Branch (CCB) has formed special teams for nabbing him.

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