BENGALURU:

allegedly attempted to kill

and asked for a revolver so that he could gun down the latter at a resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru past Saturday midnight, the injured lawmaker has told police.

Acting on Singh’s statement, Bidadi police on Monday booked Ganesh for attempt to murder and launched a hunt for him.

“Ganesh hit me on my head with clubs and flower pots. He banged my head against the wall and kicked me in my stomach and face as I fell down. ‘Get me a revolver, I will kill this man’, he yelled,” Singh, who is being treated at Apollo Hospital in Seshadripuram, told police.

Later in the evening, the Congress suspended Ganesh from the party.

The complaint was filed after doctors submitted a medico-legal report to police, stating there was alleged history of traumatic injury in Singh’s case. Police recorded Singh’s statement in the hospital on Sunday night.

The incident took place when Congress MLAs were camping in Eagleton resort amid fears of poaching by the opposition BJP. Police said Ganesh’s whereabouts are not known and a team has been formed to nab him.

According to police, around 1am on Sunday, Singh was headed towards his room in the resort when Ganesh picked up a fight with him. He accused Singh of not helping him him financially during the last assembly elections and threatened to kill his elder sister’s son, Sandeep, as he was working against him.

When Singh asked Ganesh not to rake up his family members’ names, an enraged Ganesh allegedly attacked him. “If other Congress leaders in the resort, including E Tukaram, Raghumurthy, Ramappa and Tanveer Sait, had not come to my rescue, Ganesh would have killed me. I became semiconscious. When I gained consciousness, I was in hospital,” Singh said in his statement.

Police have registered a case under IPC sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 307 (attempt to murder), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation).

Cops busy at mutt, action may be delayed

Superintendent of police Ramesh Banoth and many officers from Ramanagara police are keeping vigil at Siddaganga Mutt in Tumakuru in the wake of the seer’s demise. This is likely to delay police action against Ganesh.