Belagavi: Udupi police produced underworld don Bannanje Raja before the Karnataka Organised Crimes Act (KOCA) court in Belagavi on Friday in connection with the murder of R N Nayak, a Karwar-based businessman.
He was remanded to judicial custody till September 11 after the hearing by Principal and Sessions Court Judge P. Krishna Bhat.
He was earlier remanded to the custody of Udupi police by the same judge till August 28. After his custody ended, the Udupi police brought him to Belagavi amid tight security and produced him before the court. Raja was taken to the Hindalga Central Prison, where he has been lodged in a special cell.
Police sources said that a Udupi police team is in Belagavi to seek the body warrant of Raja on Saturday in the same court in connection with an attempt to murder case registered in Udupi in 2011.
Raja is said to be the main accused in the case. He was brought by a team of police officers, headed by SP K. Annamalai, from Udupi. Brought in by a flight from Mangaluru to Hubballi in the afternoon he was taken to Belagavi by road.
Annamalai said that Raja was taken into police custody in connection with the murder of R.N. Nayak, who was shot dead by Raja’s henchmen in Ankola taluk in 2003. Raja had allegedly ordered his associates to kill Nayak for refusing to pay a ransom. Eight associates of Raja are jailed in Hidalga prison, while two are in Kalaburagi jail.
A resident of Udupi, Raja was extradited from Casablanca, Morocco on August 14 and the same day he was produced before the KOCA court in Belagavi.
