Former Congress mayor R Sampath Raj, who was wanted in the Bengaluru riots case has been arrested, police said on Tuesday, November 17.

The Central Crime Branch (CCB) Police, which is investigating the case, had submitted a preliminary chargesheet naming 60 people, including Sampath Raj, as accused. Non-bailable warrants had been issued against Congress leaders Sampath Raj and Zakir in the DJ Halli riots case.

At least four people were killed after police opened fire on the night of August 11 to stop a mob in a city locality, angry over a social media post allegedly put out by a Congress legislator’s relative.

Sampath Raj, the Congress corporator from Devara Jeevanahalli municipal ward, was arrested in Bengaluru. He had escaped from a private hospital where he was admitted for COVID-19.

The police recently arrested one of his aides Riyazuddin who had helped him and another Congress corporator Abdul Rakeeb Zakir to escape. He had provided them shelter at Nagarhole in Mysuru.

Zakir is also wanted in the Bengaluru riots case.

Raj was wanted in connection with the cases related to the violence that occurred in the city on August 11. Nearly 3,000 to 4,000 people took to streets, set ablaze the houses of Pulakeshinagar Congress MLA R Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy and his sister over an alleged inflammatory social media post by his nephew.

The mob also torched Devara Jeevanahalli and Kadugondanahalli police stations. Several people including around 50 policemen, were injured in the violence.

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