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Actor Anushka Shetty’s brother alleges death threats from two, seeks security
Tollywood and Kollywood actor Anushka’s brother Gunaranjan Shetty filed the complaint with Karnataka home minister Jnanendra on Sunday seeking protection and legal action against the two accused after death threats
The brother of actor Anushka Shetty has lodged a complaint with Karnataka home minister Araga Jnanendra claiming he was getting death threats from two aides of late underworld don Muthappa Rai.
Tollywood and Kollywood actor Anushka’s brother Gunaranjan Shetty filed the complaint with Jnanendra on Sunday seeking protection and legal action against the two accused.
In his complaint, Gunaranjan said death threats were issued to him by Manvit Rai and Rakesh Malli. Gunaranjan Shetty, Manvit Rai, who is a relative of Muttappa Rai, and Malli had worked for underworld don-turned-businessman Muttappa Rai. But, after his death, they separated.
Muthappa Rai joined the underworld in the late 1970s and is said to be the first to introduce gun culture in the otherwise sword and machete-wielding Bengaluru underworld in the mid-1980s. He left Bengaluru in 1996 and shifted his base to Mumbai and then to Dubai where he established himself as a businessman while continuing his underworld operations.
Muthappa Rai, the founder of social services organisation Jaya Karnataka, passed away on May 15 in 2020 after a year-long battle with cancer.
A police officer said Manvit Rai has told police that he was abroad and unable to understand why these allegations have been made against him. “He has claimed that no threats are being made at anyone,” said a senior police officer in Mangaluru. The officer said Malli will be questioned soon in this regard.
In 2020, the murder of bar owner Manish alias Sarvottam Shetty, 41, had put the spotlight back on Mangaluru’s underworld. Manish was shot and hacked to death by assailants off Brigade Road. Underworld operative Vicky Shetty, who hails from Mangaluru and is now believed to be based in Dubai, reportedly called up a Kannada news channel to own up to the murder.
The shootout in the heart of the city has raised concerns in police establishment about the growing brazenness of the underworld.
A senior officer said gangsters Bannanje Raja and Ravi Pujari have been brought to India abroad recently and police were on the lookout for other gangsters. The officer said any attempts by anyone to re-establish gangs in the city will be foiled.
