Rowdy sheeter Nagaraj drinks 'poison' at press meet

Bnegaluru: History-sheeter V Nagaraj consumed what appears to be poison at the Press Club here on Friday, only a day after he was discharged from jail on bail. 

The 58-year-old former corporator had called the press meet to stand up against a few ministers  and a senior cop, who had “wrecked his profession by ensnaring him in a false case”. 

Minutes before the suicide endeavor, Nagaraj guaranteed that an aggregate of 83 individuals had schemed against him and plotted to kill him. Among them were KPCC working president Dinesh Gundu Rao, serve K J George and senior IPS officer Hemant Nimbalkar, he included. 

“They foisted 10 false cases on me and my children, Gandhi and Shastri. They got history sheets opened against us as they was already aware I will challenge the Assembly polls,” Nagaraj said. 

Around 1.45 pm, amidst the press meet, Nagaraj all of a sudden took out a container and swallowed some fluid from it. But his associates snatched the bottle, which they later said contained poison and carried him out of the venue. However, Nagaraj continued shouting, ‘don’t vote in favor of the Congress’, ‘don’t vote in favor of Dinesh Gundu Rao and George’. 

He was first taken to Bowring Hospital before being moved to St Martha’s Hospital. Doctors there gave him a stomach wash and put him on a ventilator. The hospital later sent a notice to the jurisdictional Vidhana Soudha police station. The police went to the hospital to take his announcement, however doctors prompted them against it. They however informed that he was steady and out of danger. 

Reacting to Nagaraj’s charges, Gundu Rao said he didn’t know him and declined to remark further. 

Nagaraj and his children were arrested on March 11, 2017, in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore locale, just about a month after they absconded when the police raided their home in Swathanthrapalya, Srirampura, on April 14 and seized Rs 14.8 crore in demonetized cash.