Kotwal Ramachandra

Kotwal Ramachandra was one of the underworld dons of Bangalore in the 1970s and 1980s.[1] He covered Bengaluru North and operated from Kodandarampura/ Srirampura areas. He was a contemporary of his rival M.P.Jayaraj. There was a power struggle between the two as to who would rule the Bangalore underworld under the cloud of the new generation crime boss Oil Kumar, but M.P.Jayaraj was successful in bumping off Kotwal Ramachandra with the help of Agni Shridhar, Bachchan and Varadharaja Nayak. Kotwal Ramachandra was from Shimoga and worked in the Indian Navy for a brief while. He was a well-built man, over 6 feet tall, and used knives and sickles as his weapons. He was backed by some politicians in his heyday. He was killed on 22 March 1986 by a four-member goonda team, supported by Jayaraj.[2][3] He was killed in a farm house near Allalasandra, Tumkur and his death was not known to outside world even after a month.[4] He believed in many superstitions even through his prime time.

Kotwal Ramachandra

In his stressful and crucial days, he was known to carry out random attacks of innocents in public in order to invoke fear that not only led him to develop more unwanted enemies but alleviate the situations but not his market value as he assumed.

He had several associates who continued rowdy activity in Bangalore even after his death.[5]

Kotwal Ramachandra gained access to political circles when he started working as driver and body guard to then Chief Minister of Karnataka, D. Devaraj Urs.[6][7] He even threatened Ramakrishna Hegde, another Chief Minister of Karnataka with a knife in open house which was photographed by press.. Towards his ending days, he was also accused of barging into the CM's daughters Beauty Parlour in Sadashivanagar to threaten after which the tight vigil and search forced him to exit Bengaluru and seek shelter in the Tumakuru farmhouse leading to the events of his death.

A motion picture in Kannada, Aa Dinagalu, directed by K M Chaitanya Agni Sreedhar, prominently depicts the rise and murder of Kotwal Ramachandra. Agni Sreedhar has written an autobiography, My Days in the Underworld-Rise of Bangalore Mafia (Westland,2013).in which the murder of Kotwal Ramachandra has been highlighted.[8]

Murder trail

M.P. Jayaraj, another notorious Don, helped the four killers who murdered Kotwal Ramachandra and disposed bones of Kotwal in Bay of Bengal and arranged to bury bones of dogs pretending it to be of Kotwal, with an intention to mislead the investigation and release the killers.[4]

References
  1. "The rise of Muslim underworld in Bangalore". DNA India. 17 January 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  2. Sebastian, Selvin (8 March 2014). "The Man Who Saw Too Much". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  3. Dharmaraj, Paul. "Books : Interview: Agni Sreedhar". Timeoutbengaluru.net. Archived from the original on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  4. Agni Sreedhar. Chapter 3
  5. "Srirampura Kitty killed in savage attack". The Hindu. 21 March 2005. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  6. Riti, M D. "All the CM's Men". rediff.com. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  7. Anand, A (1992). Surya India. Surya India.
  8. Khajane, Muralidhara (12 December 2013). "The gangs of Bangalore". The Hindu. Retrieved 9 March 2014.

Bibliography
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