It is exactly a month since Muthappa Rai, who had rubbed shoulders with the most wanted in Mumbai and Dubai, died in Bengaluru of cancer on May 15.
In January, the former underworld don had called a press conference at his palatial house in Bidadi. “I have led a fearless life. I don’t fear death either,” he told reporters. Those were among his last words in public.
Many who knew Rai told Metrolife he came across as a man who used his uncanny intelligence to get the police off his back.
Clerical life
Born in Puttur near Mangaluru, Rai began his career as a clerk in Vijaya Bank. He parallelly ran a cabaret joint called Omar Khayyam in Bengaluru on Brigade Road. The story goes that he was drawn into violence when he had to protect his business from the city’s thugs.
The Bengaluru underworld owes its origins to M D Nataraj, son-in-law of chief minister Devaraj Urs, who hand-picked big-time rowdy M P Jayaraj to form a gang, according to Agni Sridhar, who knew Rai.
“In 1974, Nataraj formed a group called the Indira Brigade and Jayaraj headed the Bangalore chapter. Devaraj Urs wanted such a group to counter the upper castes and the rich who controlled politics. In those days, the Bengaluru underworld was ruled by Jayaraj, Kotwal Ramachandra and Oil Kumar,” he says.
Rai was still in Mangaluru, and had no connection yet with the world of crime in Bengaluru. “People sought the help of the underworld thinking they could get immediate justice because our legal system had its own loopholes,” says Agni Sridhar, who says he got involved in the underworld in the mid-1980s to avenge the hurting of his brother by Kotwal Ramachandra. In later years, Agni Sridhar ran a tabloid called Agni in 1998, and hence the prefix to his name.
It was after the murder of Jayaraj in 1989 that Muthappa Rai’s name came to be talked about in Bengaluru. Jayaraj was going in a car near Lalbagh when it was overtaken by bike-borne men, who pumped bullets into his body.
“Jayaraj was murdered in broad daylight by Rai’s men. Rai then became the don of Bengaluru but he didn’t enjoy the support of the local rowdies. He couldn’t round them up and pacify them. He got a letter from one of them saying they wouldn’t join hands with him,” Agni Sridhar says and adds Rai was keen to have him on his side. But he was against the Mumbai gun culture that Rai wanted to bring to Bengaluru. Subsequently, the two fell out, and Agni Sridhar saw an attempt on his life in 1997.
Cops who caught him
B K Shivaram, retired assistant commissioner of police, CCB, Bengaluru, vividly remembers taking on the underworld in the 1980s. “It was a period when extortion, gambling, flesh trade and organised crime were at their peak. I was commissioned to curb them,” says Shivaram.
It wasn’t easy because politicians and the underworld enjoyed a nexus, and crimes were carried out with the help of those in high places.
“Most underworld dons had stakes in the oil business. They would create an artificial scarcity and sell oil at double the price. They also made money this way,” he recalls. Oil Kumar, aka Boothouse Kumar, got his name because of his involvement in the business. Shivaram says the dons started feeling the heat because of strong policing and moved to the outskirts of Bengaluru. “Rai bought large tracts of land in Bidadi. He was reformed to a certain extent but continued his activities there,” says Shivaram.
Without help from politicians and officials, the underworld can’t go far. “Some of those sitting in power today were involved in the underworld in the ’80s and ’90s,” says Shivaram.
Dubai meeting
Lava Kumar, who also retired as the assistant commissioner of police (Bengaluru), was a sub inspector in Puttur in 1978 when he first met Rai.
“Rai worked as a clerk in Vijaya Bank. That’s how I met him. He was humble,” he says. Kumar came in contact with Rai again when he was wanted in connection with the murder of Amar Alva, a student activist in 1992.
“I was investigating the case and Rai challenged me to find evidence against him. He said if I did, he would surrender. However, we failed to gather enough evidence against Rai,” he says.
Lava Kumar’s story then moves to Dubai, where Rai was holed up.
“In 2000, MLA Vasant Asnotikar was murdered by Dilip Arjun Nayak, who had fled to Dubai. I was put on the case and the only person I knew in Dubai was Rai. I rang him up asking for details of Dilip Nayak, a close aide of Sharad Shetty, who was Dawood Ibrahim’s right hand man. Rai knew them all. We went to Dubai in connection with our investigation, and Rai arranged a meeting with Dilip but we couldn’t bring him back because the extradition treaty between India and Dubai didn’t exist in 2000. After returning to India, I kept in touch with Rai who would keep us informed about Dilip’s movements. Dilip was finally arrested at the old airport in Bengaluru when he came in 2000,” recalls Kumar.
Lava Kumar says Rai was an “intelligent operator” who never left behind any clue for the police to follow up on.
“He had more than a dozen cases against him, but he was acquitted in all the cases,” says Kumar.
How he survived
Daniel George aka Danny was media officer at the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, UAE, from 1998 to 2004, and played a role in getting Rai deported to India in 2002.
K C Singh was the then Indian Ambassador to the UAE who handled the deportation process.
“Rai first heard about me at the Bangalore Turf Club one evening. As a reporter with a prominent English daily, I had written something against the underworld and it hadn’t gone down well with him. I was approached by his men to stop writing about them, but I didn’t pay heed. Years went by and when I was at the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, I got a call from Rai saying he had been framed in a case in Dubai and that his life was in danger. He wanted my help to get to India. The deportation took place in 2002,” he says. Daniel says Rai was
well-versed with the ways of Dubai and had strong connections with the underworld there. “Everybody knew him,” he says.
Daniel believes Rai survived only because of his intelligence. “He had a fetish for fancy cars and expensive sun shades. He loved luxury,” he says.
‘Not as dreaded as portrayed’
IPS officer Gopal B Hosur, now retired, had Rai in his custody for 14 days when he was brought down from Dubai to Bengaluru. “He was wanted in extortion and real estate cases, but not for land grab,” Hosur told Metrolife. Hosur remembers Rai as an ambitious man who got sucked into the underworld, and was not as dreaded as he was said to be. Rai established Jaya Karnataka and did some social service, but he had an eye on politics, says Hosur. “Any organisation like Jaya Karnataka, which Rai founded in 2008 and helmed till earlier this year, dies a natural death if it doesn’t have a strong leader and financial support,” Hosur observes.
Some false cases against Rai were foisted by the law-enforcing agencies to pin him down, he says. “He was not an angel but he was not as bad as he was portrayed. The underworld had links with politicians,” he reveals.
In his experience, gang lords crave hero worship. “They live a luxurious life but luxury of the mind evades them. Some develop psychological problems. They sometimes get scared even at the sight of a constable,” says Hosur. When Hosur was posted in Bengaluru in between 2005 to 2009, he cracked down on the dons. “I used to meet politicians and tell them it was not advisable for them to be associated with the underworld,” says Hosur. Hosur says some dons left Bengaluru and moved to the outskirts, like Nelamangala and Ramanagara, and bought large tracts of land there.
Narrow escape
Syed Aman aka Bachchan, another don active during the 1980s, says Rai made an attempt on Agni Sridhar’s life in 1997. The incident took place at Kadirenahalli Cross in Banashankari, Bengaluru.“Sridhar was to travel in the car. He wasn’t in it, but I was. Driver Seena and another man were with me. I escaped unhurt but Seena was shot dead,” says Bachchan.
He says he was against Rai’s association with gangsters such as Dawood Ibrahim and Sharad Shetty. “Rai’s plans to take over Bengaluru completely never really took off,” says Bachchan.
Son stuck in Canada, family to disclose will details after his return
Muthappa Rai, who died at 68 on May 15, has left a will that bequeaths his wealth to his two sons Rocky Rai (39) and Ricky Rai (28), each of whom gets land worth about Rs 100 crore, according to Rai’s advocate Narayanaswamy G.
His children will give Rs 3 lakh and a site each for about 15 employees who served Rai for 15-plus years at his palatial house in Bidadi, Narayanaswamy told Metrolife.
Rai held discussions with several advocates before
he wrote his final will. It was drafted by advocate Geetha Raj and runs into 41 pages. The executor is advocate Narayanaswamy.
Muthappa Rai owned about
250 acres across Karnataka, including in Yelahanka, Devanahalli and Bidadi
(all in Bengaluru), according
to sources in the know.
His property included a coffee estate in Sakleshpur, which he has bequeathed
to his son Ricky. He has made gift deeds of some of his properties in the name of his children. Rai has bequeathed his land development companies to his sons and his partners.
Rai’s first wife Reca died in 2013. For his second wife Anuradha, he has left land in HD Kote and a car. His shares, agricultural land in Mangaluru, Bantwal, Puttur and Mysuru, and his social service organisation Jaya Karnataka will now be the responsibility of his
elder son Rocky Rai.
Narayanaswamy has been associated with Rai for 11 years. “I have taken care of his legal cases for six years,” he says.
The family is expected to disclose details of the will after Rai’s younger son Ricky returns from Canada, where he lives.
Narayanaswamy says media reports about Rai’s wealth are exaggerated.
Crimeline
1989: Allegedly ets don M P Jayaraj murdered. Seeks to rule Bengaluru underworld.
1992: Accused in Amar Alva murder case, Mangaluru. Eventually acquitted.
1994: Moves to Mumbai, meets Dawood gang through his right-hand man Sharad Shetty.
1996: Attempt on his life at a magistrate court in Bengaluru.
1998: Flees to Dubai. Spreads his network.
2001: Accused in builder Subbaraju murder case, Bengaluru.
2002: Deported to India, grilled by state cops, Central sleuths.
2002: Acquitted in all murder cases.
2008: Starts social service organisation Jaya Karnataka.
2020: Announces he has cancer in Jan, dies in a Bengaluru hospital in May.