Bengaluru riots: Accused Ex-Congress Mayor Sampath Raj remanded in 2-Day NIA custody

After being sent to judicial custody, former Bengaluru mayor and Congress neta Sampath Raj has now been remanded in National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody for two days. The NIA, which is investigating two cases pertaining to the riots in Bengaluru which took place on August 11, had sought the Congress neta's two-day custody. The court has allowed the investigating agency to interrogate Sampath Raj on November 24 and November 24. 

The Congress Neta who had been absconding was arrested by the Bengaluru Police on Monday.  Accused in the Bengaluru riots, Sampath Raj, the Congress corporator from Devara Jeevanahalli municipal ward, had escaped from a private hospital where he was admitted for COVID-19.

The police recently arrested one of Raj's aides Riyazuddin who had helped him and another Congress corporator Abdul Rakeeb Zakir to escape. He had given them shelter at Nagarhole in Mysuru. Zakir is also wanted in the Bengaluru violence case.

READ | Bengaluru Riots: 4 SDPI Offices Raided; Incriminating Evidence, Swords & Knives Seized

4 SDPI offices raided

On November 18,  43 locations in Bengaluru including 4 offices of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), were raided by the NIA in connection with the Bengaluru riots. As per sources, the NIA has nabbed incriminating evidence from the raids at the SDPI offices including swords, knives and iron rods which have been seized by the agency. The cases being investigated by the NIA pertain to 'large scale rioting armed with lethal weapons causing injuries to police personnel, destruction of public and private property including the two police stations which had become a hotspot during the violence, and intentions to cause terror in the society.'

READ | Bengaluru Riots: Post NIA Raids At SDPI Offices, JD(S) Alleges Congress Role In Violence

In October, the Central Crime Branch filed a chargesheet in connection with the large-scale violence that broke out in the DJ Halli and KG Halli areas of Bengaluru in August 2020. The 850-page chargesheet named 52 persons as the accused and contains more than 30 eyewitness accounts. Congress corporators- Sampath Raj and Zakir Hussain have been mentioned as accused numbers 51 and 52 respectively.

Bengaluru riots

At around 8.30 pm on August 11, a riot-like situation was witnessed between the KJ Halli and DJ Halli police station limits in East Bengaluru. A mob of more than 1000 people gathered outside the residence of Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy demanding immediate action against his relative Naveen. Soon, the police resorted to the use of force to contain the violence. By the time the situation was brought under control at around 1 am on August 12, three people were killed, nearly 60 police personnel including DCP Bhimashankar Guled were injured and over 300 vehicles were burnt in the violence. 

READ | Bengaluru Riots: Congress Neta Sampath Raj Remanded To 2-day Police Custody After Arrest