The body of a businessman with a bullet injury was found inside a car on the outskirts of Bengaluru Sunday. The deceased allegedly wrote an eight-page suicide note blaming BJP MLA Aravind Limbavali and five others for ‘cheating’ him. All the six named in the purported suicide note have been booked by the police on charges of abetment to suicide. The businessman, identified as Pradeep S, 47, a resident of Ambalipura in Whitefield, reportedly shot himself with a licensed gun around 5.30 pm on January 1, while returning from the Woodrose resort near Kaggalipura, where he had gone with his wife’s family. His wife, Namitha V, was in her relative’s car, said the Kaggalipura police. The police said Pradeep shot himself inside his car in Nettigere, 32 km from Bengaluru. According to police sources, Pradeep handled the social media accounts of Limbavali between 2010 and 2013. Pradeep claimed in the suicide note that in 2018, he invested Rs 1.5 crore in Opus Club, which promised him a profit of Rs 3 lakh and a monthly return of Rs 1.5 lakh. But he did not receive anything. Thereafter, Limbavali allegedly intervened and an agreement was struck with the company to pay the investors. However, Pradeep said in the note that the BJP leader supported five other investors but not him. The other five people who have been mentioned in the note are Gopi K, Somaiah, G Ramesh Reddy, Jayaram Reddy, and Raghava Bhat. The police said Pradeep left behind three suicide notes with the same content — one at his home, another on the wiper blade of his relative’s car, and one in his car. The probe revealed that Pradeep and Namitha had reconciled after she filed a harassment complaint against him in May last year. Reacting to Pradeep’s death, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said: “Action is being taken as per the law. in the future too, action will be taken in accordance with the law.” On Monday evening, Limbavali held a press meet and admitted that Pradeep was a party worker. “He worked at the ward level and later got involved in business. He was inactive in party affairs. In June or July, he came to me and expressed the problems he was facing (financially). I… called his partners over the phone and asked them to solve the issue. They said that due to Covid-19, business was hit and sought time. Fifteen days later, he contacted me again and then I called his partners once more and sternly asked them to return his money. “After some days, he met me at a public event and I asked him about the dispute. He said that it was solved and thanked me. In August last year, he spoke to me over the phone and said that his wife had filed a complaint at Bellandur police station over a domestic issue. I spoke to the police officer concerned and asked them to hold a meeting with the elders if his wife agreed. “I do not know why he has mentioned my name in the death note and I am open to any questioning or inquiry. I also demand a fair probe into the matter so that the real culprit is booked. I try to solve the problems of the public whenever they visit me.” BJP Mahadevapura MLA Limbavali has previously served as the minister for forest, Kannada and culture, health and family welfare, and higher education.
