Muthappa Rai
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Muthappa Rai was an underworld don, currently based in a locality at the outskirts of Bangalore, Karnataka, India. He was in the most wanted list of mafias of Karnataka. During the peak of his underworld days Rai had a well etablished underworld network across major cities of Karnataka like Bangalore and Mangalore . Rai had controlled underworld activities in Bangalore for a long period with a well established syndicate which mostly comprised gangsters from the coastal city Mangalore as also Mumbai. He was said to have links with Mumbai underworld big shots like Chotta Rajan. Mr. Rai now claims to be reformed and leads a less hyped life as a real estate developer/social worker.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Growth as Mafia
Rai, a Bunt, hails from Puttur, a small town near Mangalore in Dakshina Kannada district. Earlier on, as a Congress worker he was involved in a knife attack to protect his friend who was contesting a local body election. He was a clerk in Vijaya Bank in Puttur. He later opted for a transfer to Mumbai and married his girlfriend, a girl from Coorg. It is said that in Bombay he was introduced to various underworld figure and their "Gun Culture". He quit his day job to manage a night club named "Omar Khayyam" in Brigade Road, Bangalore. He soon came to control a number of night clubs and was involved in shady real estate deals. He had close links with gangsters such as M.P. Jairaj (who was shot dead in 1989 allegedly at the behest of Rai by men hired from Mumbai in 1989), 'Oil' Shiv Kumar and Sridhar Murthy. Rai and 'Oil' Kumar who were allegedly involved in fuel adulteration rackets, jointly ran several gas stations and were also involved in arms dealing, racketeering and politicking . They fell apart and a gangwar erupted between them, where, apparently guns were used on both sides. Eventually Kumar was brutally murdered in 1990.
[edit] Shifting to Dubai
Rai was arrested by the police while he was settling a real estate deal. In 1992, when he was brought to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's court in Bangalore, Narayan Salian, a friend of Amar Alva who was allegedly murdered by Rai's gang, came in the guise of an advocate, shot and seriously injured Rai. Rai shifted base to Madikeri and Heggadedevanakote near Mysore. He was not involved in the murder in 1996 of Robert D'Silva, a timber merchant from Madikeri. He fled to Dubai using a fake passport. In a case of mistaken identity, Rai's men from Mumbai shot dead Seena, the car driver of Sridhar Murthy, in Bangalore in 1997. The real target was Sridhar Murthy. Rai's name was also in the news after a sharpshooter from Mumbai, Eric D'Souza, was shot dead in an encounter by the Bangalore police in December 1999. It was alleged that D'Souza was sent to Bangalore by Rai to eliminate Sridhar Murthy. Operating from Dubai, Rai promoted Bannanje Raja, a gangster in Bangalore. It was through Bannanje Raja and others, informed sources say, that Rai conducted his operations in Bangalore. Bannanje Raja, along with Arif and Syed, was involved in a shootout in Bangalore in 1998. He fled the country after the incident. Bannanje Raja is among the six most wanted criminals, according to the website of the Bangalore City Police.
[edit] Arrest
Rai was held by the Dubai police in early May 2002 on charges of travelling without relevant travel documents. He was handed over to the Interpol in Dubai. Informed sources said that Rai himself wanted to come back to India since it was getting too hot for him in Dubai, especially after the killing in Mumbai of Sadhu Shetty, a hotelier who was said to have been close to Chhota Rajan. Sadhu Shetty is said to have tipped off Rai on Chhota Rajan's presence in an apartment in Bangkok. This information was allegedly passed on to Chhota Shakeel by Rai. Rai is also said to have fallen out with Sharad Shetty. The latter was reportedly unhappy that Rai, after the murder of Subbaraju, started negotiating directly with the realtor's sons, bypassing his representative. According to informed sources, RAW, which has 'used' Chhota Rajan to get information on Dawood's activities, may also have had a hand in the deportation of Rai and might now want to 'use' Rai. Sharad Shetty was later shot and killed by mobsters outside the India club in Dubai by Chhota Rajans men. By that time, Rai had been deported back to India and was placed at "Parappana Agrahara" a trial home in the outskirts of Bangalore. Rai underwent trial for all the charges faced by him in India in a fast track court and finally got acquitted in all of them and walked out of jail as a free man and proved that he was after all an inocent man in all the murder charges. Later, in subsequent interviews with the press he claimed to have given up all his activities and links with the underworld. Rai, who is now said to be reformed, works as a real estate developer and a social worker. Rai continues to maintain a heavy security of armed body guards whenever he ventures out in Public.
[edit] Rai a Good man and his New Avatar
Donning a new avatar, as crusader for Kannada culture and tradition, Muthappa Rai announced the launch of his apolitical outfit ‘Jai Karnataka’. Speaking to media persons in Bangalore, in a packed press conference, Rai said he has been doing a lot of social service in Puttur, DK, through his MR Trust. “But it had limited scope and so I decided to launch a party to uphold and preserve the Kannada culture and reach out to the underprivileged sections of society, especially the differently-abled throughout the state,” said Rai.
Donning the trademark vermillion teeka on his forehead, he said ‘Jai Karnataka’ will never enter politics. “We have nothing to do with politics. Ours is a socially-oriented and welfare-driven organisation. Though several political parties including the BJP, the Congress and the Janata Dal have approached us, we have refused to support them,” he said.
To begin with, Rai said, ‘Jai Karnataka’ would drill 100 wells in the villages, particularly in North Karnataka. “Most of the development work takes place in the cities. I would like to shift the focus to the villages and develop areas where there’s no electricity and water. My organisation will lend support to parties working for the preservation of Kannada culture but it would not compete against them,” said Rai
He added that he would adopt “Gandhian” method of protest and not resort to holding rallies and protest marches. “I don’t want to cause public inconvenience. Gandhigiri is the best way to protest against anti-people projects,” he said.
Rai said he will not accept any funds from anyone and will invest 75 per cent of his business profits into ‘Jai Karnataka’. (Source from the Deccan Herald)
