Mangaluru: The 3rd Additional District and Sessions Court in Mangaluru has acquitted Bannanje Raja in three shooting cases registered against him. A case was registered against him at Pandeshwar police station and Kadri police station. In all the three cases, the police investigated and filed a chargesheet against Bannanje Raja and his associates. At the time of these incidents, Bannanje Raja was hiding abroad. In 2015, he was arrested in Morocco and handed over to India.
In the year 2000, a case was registered against Bannanje Raja and his accomplices in Pandeshwar police station for attempting to kill Irvin Pinto and his wife, a resident of Bunts Hostel, by intercepting their car and shooting them.
In 2004, a case was registered against Bannanje Raja at Kadri police station for allegedly firing at the office of Rohan Monteiro, owner of Rohan Corporation, and demanding money from him.
In 2011, Suresh Bhandari, the owner of Prithvi Developers and Builders, was in a car near Kadri Park with his wife and daughter when two unidentified men came in a bike and shot him with a revolver and attempted to murder him. After the arrest of Bannanje Raja, a supplementary investigation was conducted and an additional charge sheet was filed.
The third additional district and sessions judge Basappa Balappa Jakati, who heard the case in all the three cases, acquitted Bannanje Raja. P P Hegde’s associate Rajesh Kumar Amtadi argued on behalf of the accused.
