Kannada tabloid editor sent to judicial custody

A court here on Monday sent, to 12 days judicial custody, Kannada tabloid editor Ravi Belagere who was arrested for allegedly hiring hitmen to kill an ex-colleague.

"He will be in judicial custody until December 23," said the 1st Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate V.Jagadeesh.

Belagere, 59, the editor of Kannada weekly "Hai Bangalore" was arrested by the city police on Friday and had been in four-day police custody since then.

The arrest was made after two gunmen - Tahir Hussain and Shashidhar Mundewadi - had testified to taking ransom from the journalist to kill his ex-colleague Sunil Heggaravalli three months ago.

Heggaravalli, whom the killers couldn't manage to shoot, was working with Belagere in the same tabloid.

Belagere had reportedly given Mundewadi a gun with four bullets along with a knife to "eliminate" his former colleague whom he called a "betrayer".

From searches conducted at Belagere's office and residence in the city, police had so far found one revolver gun with 53 live bullets and a used bullet, a double barrel gun with 41 live bullets along with deer skin and tortoise shell.

--IANS

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