Kotwal Ramachandra was a gangster in Bangalore in the 1970s and 1980s. [1] He covered Bengaluru North and operated in Kodandarampura and Srirampura there. He was a contemporary of rival M. P. Jayaraj. The two had a power struggle over who would rule the Bangalore underworld under the crime boss Oil Kumar. Jayaraj was successful in bumping off Ramachandra with the help of Agni Shridhar, Bachchan and Varadharaja Nayak.
Ramachandra was from Shimoga. He was over six feet tall, and used knives and sickles as his weapons. He was backed by some politicians in his heyday.
Ramachandra was known to carry out random attacks of innocents in public in order to invoke fear that led him to develop more unwanted enemies but alleviate the situations but not his market value as he assumed.
Ramachandra gained access to political circles when he started working as driver and body guard to then Chief Minister of Karnataka, D. Devaraj Urs. [2] [3] He threatened Ramakrishna Hegde, another Chief Minister with a knife at an open house that was photographed by press.[ citation needed ]. He was accused of barging into the CM's daughters' Beauty Parlour in Sadashivanagar to threaten them. The ensuing search forced him to exit Bengaluru and seek shelter in the Tumakuru farmhouse where he was murdered.
A motion picture in Kannada, Aa Dinagalu , directed by K. M. Chaitanya, prominently depicts the rise and murder of 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. [4]
Jayaraj helped the four killers who murdered Ramachandra and disposed of his bones in the Bay of Bengal. He arranged for dog bones to be buried instead, with an intention to mislead the investigation and exonerate the killers. [5]
He was killed on 22 March 1986 by a four-member goonda team, supported by Jayaraj. [6] [7] He was killed in a farm house near Allalasandra, Tumkur. His death was not known to outside world for more than a month. [5]
Some of his associates continued criminal activity after his death. [8]
Siddaramaiah, also referred to by his nickname Siddu, is an Indian politician who is serving as the 22nd Chief Minister of Karnataka since 2023. He also held that position previously from 2013 to 2018, being only the second person to hold that office for a full five-year term. He belongs to the Indian National Congress and is presently the leader of the Congress Legislative Party. He represented the Varuna Assembly constituency from 2023, previously from 2008 to 2018, Badami Assembly constituency from 2018 to 2023, and from Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency from 2004 to 2007, 1994 to 1999 and from 1983 to 1989 in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. He served as the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka from 1996 to 1999 and from 2004 to 2005 while he was a member of the Janata Dal and Janata Dal (Secular). He also served as the Leader of the Opposition in Karnataka Legislative Assembly on two occasions from 2019 to 2023 and from 2009 to 2013. Siddaramaiah was a member of various Janata Parivar factions for several years.
Jogi is a 2005 Indian Kannada-language action film written and directed by Prem. It stars Shiva Rajkumar, Jennifer Kotwal and Arundathi Nag. Jogi was released on 19 August 2005. Record box office collection was reported across Karnataka and the movie completed 100 days in more than 61 theaters. The film was noted for its technical prowess, colloquial Kannada dialogue and lyrics. Its story revolves around an old lady who comes to the city from her village in search of her presumably lost son. It was remade in Telugu as Yogi and in Tamil as Parattai Engira Azhagu Sundaram.
Malleshwaram, is a northwest neighborhood and one of the zones of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike in Bengaluru, India. It was planned in 1889 after the great plague of 1898, developed as a suburb in 1892 and handed over to the city municipality in 1895. As per the 1878 Survey of India map, the area came under the village of Ranganatha Palya and was later named after the Kadu Malleshwara Temple. The neighbourhood houses many offices, one them being World Trade Center Bengaluru. It has two shopping malls, Mantri Square and Orion Mall. Education boards of the state KSEEB and PU boards are located here.
Aa Dinagalu is a 2007 Indian Kannada-language crime drama film based on the non-fiction novel Daadaagiriya Dinagalu by Agni Shridhar, and directed by K. M. Chaitanya. It stars Chethan Kumar in the lead role. The supporting cast features Sharath Lohitashwa, Ashish Vidhyarthi, Atul Kulkarni and Veda Sastry. The plot revolves around mafia in Bangalore during the 1980s when gangsters Kotwal Ramachandra and M. P. Jayaraj dominated the Bangalore underworld. The film's soundtrack and background music was scored by Ilayaraja.
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Agni Shridhar is a Kannada former gangster, writer, critic and artist. He founded Karunada Sene. Later he founded the weekly Kannada newspaper Agni, and turned a professional writer. He has written a book called "Daadagiriya Dinagalu", meaning the days of Goondaism.
Ravi Belagere was an Indian writer and journalist based in Bangalore, Karnataka. He was the editor of the Kannada-language tabloid Hai Bangalore and fortnightly magazine O Manase. He founded Bhavana Prakashana, Prarthana School and Bhavana Audio Reach.
Om, stylized as ॐ, is a 1995 Indian Kannada-language action crime film written and directed by Upendra. The film was produced by Parvathamma Rajkumar under the production company Sri Vajreshwari Combines. The film stars Shiva Rajkumar and Prema with Srishanthi, G. V. Shivanand, Sadhu Kokila in supporting roles with real-life gangsters - Bekkina Kannu Rajendra, Tanveer, Korangu Krishna and Jedaralli Krishnappa - portraying the role of gangsters in a small but important portion of the movie.
Mysore Puttaswamaiah Jayaraj, known as M. P. Jayaraj (1944/1946–1989) was an Indian mafia gangster who operated in Bangalore during the 1970s and 1980s. He was a hobbyist wrestler from his childhood who seriously practiced at Annayappa Garadi in Thigalrapete. He was brought into forefront of Bangalore underworld by M. D. Nataraj, the then son-in-law of the Chief Minister of Karnataka Devaraj Urs.
Edegarike is a 2012 Indian Kannada crime drama film directed by Sumana Kittur. It is based on the novel of the same name written by Agni Shridhar and stars Aditya in the lead role, while Atul Kulkarni, Achyuth Kumar, Srujan Lokesh, Dharma and Aakanksha Mansukhani play supporting roles.
Srirampura is an elevated metro station on the North-South corridor of the Green Line of Namma Metro serving the Srirampura area of Bengaluru, India. It was opened to the public on 1 March 2014.
Benakanahalli Alappa Shivakumar (1951–1990), was a ganglord and organized crime boss who headed the Bangalore underworld in the 1980s along with other notable figures such as M. P. Jayaraj and Kotwal Ramachandra. Activities include racketeering, substantial control of city's oil supply, labour unions, film distribution through his company SK Pictures in Gandhinagar, money laundering, monopolistic contract bidding and large-scale manipulation of state bureaucracy and politics. He was killed on 20 November 1990.
Doddakoppalu Kariyappa Ravi was an Indian Administrative Service officer of Karnataka cadre, from the 2008 batch. He first came into limelight as a deputy commissioner of the Kolar district, after launching an official crackdown against the encroachment of government lands and rampant illegal sand mining in the district. Following fourteen months of service, he was transferred to Bangalore by the government of Karnataka as Additional Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Enforcement) in October 2014. After his five months' tenure as additional commissioner which involved tax raids on major tax-evading real estate firms, he was found dead at his residence in Bangalore on 16 March 2015, under suspicious circumstances.
M. Jaishankar, nicknamed Psycho Shankar, was an Indian criminal, sexual predator, and serial killer, notorious for a series of rapes and murders during 2008–2011. It is believed that he was involved in about 30 rapes, murders, and robbery cases across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. At the time of his death, he had been accused of murdering at least 19 women.
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My Days in the Underworld: Rise of the Bangalore Mafia is an autobiographical book written by Agni Sreedhar. Before becoming a writer, film maker and journalist he was an underworld don. He wanted to enter the Indian Administrative Service after studying for law. Circumstances, which he narrates in his novel, made him an underworld don for 20 years in Bangalore. In this book he tells of his own experiences and encounters in the crime world of Bangalore, which runs on a track that never coalesces with the chaotic world of the common people governed by a distorted justice system. Initially, Sreedhar wrote a series of articles under the title Dadagiriya Dinagalu in Kannada language for his tabloid Agni, which he later translated into English under the title My Days in the Underworld-Rise of Bangalore Mafia with the help of Prathiba Nandakumar and V.G. Jaideep. The book was first published in 2013 by Tranquebar Press. The author says the book "also works as the story of the city".
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