Muthappa Rai's aide arrested

MANGALORE: Sudheer Prabhu (38), an associate of underworld don Muthappa Rai, was arrested by the Dakshina Kannada police here on Thursday. The police said Prabhu was wanted in crimes like Seena’s murder in Bangalore, attempt to murder, dacoity, robbery, theft, cheating, kidanapping, possession of arms, escape from custody and jumping bail. SP Seemanth Kumar Singh said the anti-rowdy squad, led by Prabhudeva Mane, arrested Prabhu at Bhavanthi Street on a tip-off.

Prabhu has been remanded to custody. The manner in which Prabhu, a rich planter, entered the crime world makes interesting reading. Prabhu’s father owned an estate in Sakleshpur, the present value of which is Rs 3-4 crore. Prabhu, an alcoholic and a womaniser, in 1993 planned to sell the estate for a few lakhs. The deal was made, but Prabhu made the mistake of handing over the land records before the complete payment was made. When he approached the party for the remainder of the money, they shooed him off. Somebody told him to approach Muthappa Rai.

And he did. He met Rai in 1993-94 at a Bangalore hotel. His luck ran out when DCP Kempaiah raided the hotel and arrested him along with some explosives . The case is now known as the infamous ‘Brindavan case’. As he had to tag along with Rai’s associates to the court, he had no other way, but to ‘officially’ get associated with the don. That started his association with Rai, which continues. He came to be known as escape specialist, after he fled from the police in 1994 from a hotel in Mangalore. He had allegedly made the police party get drunk and made good his escape.

Since no case was registered officially then, the case does not find mention in police records. He again escaped in 1997, when he was being brought to Mangalore to identify Rai’s henchmen. He was arrested later. The same year, he gave the slip to the police while being brought to Bangalore from Chitradurga, allegedly using the same method. His luck ran out when he was caught by the Dakshina Kannada police at Nellyadi. He then had a revolver in his possession which was allegedly used to murder Rowdy Seena alias Sreenivas. He was lodged at the Bangalore Central Jail in 1999.

Unbelievably, Prabhu escaped once again when he was admitted to the Jayadeva Cardiology institute. He was again caught, but was granted bail. Prabhu jumped the bail, and was free till he was caught on Thursday.



 

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