The Belagavi district special court for Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act cases held alleged underground criminal operative Bannanje Raja and nine others guilty of the murder of R N Nayak, a mining industrialist and BJP leader from Ankola in Uttara Kannada district, in 2013.
Three others were found not guilty for lack of evidence. The quantum of punishment for those found guilty would be announced on April 4.
C M Joshi, principal district and sessions judge and special court judge, pronounced the judgment on March 30.
Different judges have heard the case for over seven years. Over 210 witnesses have recorded their statements, including senior police officers like Pratap Reddy, Alok Kumar, Bhaskar Rao and Annamalai. Prosecutors produced over 1,000 pages of documents in court, over 130 exhibits and other materials.
Police had filed a charge sheet in the 2013 murder, naming 16 accused. Of them, 13 were arrested. They include sharp shooters, conspirators and associates of Bannanje Raja.
According to the police, Rajendra Shetty, also known as Bannanje Raja, in named in 44 cases for crimes ranging from extortion to rape and murder. He had allegedly called Mr. Nayak demanding protection money. When Mr. Nayak refused to pay, he got some criminals to kill the industrialist. A day after the killing, Bannanje Raja called newspaper offices to claim that he had ordered the hit.
An Interpol red corner notice was issued in the name of Bannanje Raja. In 2015, he was arrested in Casablanca, Morocco. Karnataka police got the accused extradited from Morocco.
This was the first case to be filed under the KCOC Act in Karnataka.
Special Public Prosecutor K G Puranikmath and Srinivas Alva had pleaded for the State.
