Shooting case: Ricky Rai’s security guard arrested

The car in which Ricky Rai was travelling in at Bidadi near Bengaluru.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Bidadi police on Thursday claimed to have cracked the Ricky Rai shooting case and arrested a 53-year-old security guard who opened fire at the car.

The accused Vittal Monappa, who was the gatekeeper of Ricky’s house, allegedly opened fire to stage manage the attack. Ricky, 35, the son of late underworld operative Muthappa Rai, sustained injuries on his nose and right arm and was admitted to the hospital.

Going by the nature of attack, the police, who analysed the crime scene and verified the ballistic report, corroborated it with the weapons used by the security guards before taking Vittal into custody.

Monappa was questioned two days ago before being hospitalised owing to health reasons. He was discharged on Thursday morning and questioned for several hours before being placed under arrest.

The police are now probing further to ascertain the motive behind the attack. Ricky’s driver, in his complaint, accused his rivals Rakesh Malli, a former associate-turned-foe of Muthappa Rai; Anuradha, Muthappa Rai’s second wife, and Nitesh Shetty and Vaidyanathan, owners of Bengaluru-based prominent real estate firm Nitesh Estates.

Rakesh was questioned by the police, but based on circumstantial evidence, the police confirmed that it was an insider job and corroborated with the evidence before arresting Vittal, officials said.

Though the police suspected that Ricky stage managed the attack to implicate his rivals, the police are further investigating to ascertain the exact motive.

Ricky was shot at by an unidentified assailant while he was travelling in a car with his driver and private security from his Bidadi farmhouse to Bengaluru around 12.50 a.m. on April 19. The incident happened just a few metres away from the gate of Muthappa Rai’s farmhouse in Bidadi.