Did Rikki Rai miss the bullet the first time, but became a target hours later? 

The car in which Ricky Rai was travelling in, after an armed gang opened fire at him at Bidadi near Bengaluru on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The sequence of events narrated by Rikki Rai’s driver in his complaint over the shooting indicates that the attacker may have fired at Rikki Rai twice, hours apart; he escaped unhurt the first time, but did not realise he had been targeted; then came back to the same spot hours later, and was then injured when he was shot at a second time.

In his complaint, Basavaraju G., said Rikki Rai came to the Bidadi farmhouse from the Sadashivanagar residence on Friday evening around 6 p.m. He left the Bidadi farmhouse towards Bengaluru around 11 p.m. with his gunman Rajpal.

“A few metres away from the gate, we heard a big sound. I drove a short distance ahead, stopped the car, and checked the tyres, but found them to be alright. We went ahead till Bidadi Railway Crossing. Rikki Rai realised that he had forgotten his wallet and asked me to return to the farmhouse. We came back and left for Bengaluru again at 12.50 a.m. At the same spot where we had heard a big sound earlier, we came under fire, injuring Rikki Rai and me,” he said in the complaint.

Police said the shooter might have been hiding behind a compound wall nearby and shot at Rikki Rai’s car.

“Someone has keenly watched his movements and attacked him. If the first time was also a gun fire attack, it raises questions as to why the attacker was still waiting in the same spot even after the car left towards Bengaluru. This shows that the attacker had up-to-date information about his movements,” a senior police official said. Police suspect the attack was carried out by a hitman who might have had input from someone on the inside.

Rivalry, property dispute

Rikki Rai reportedly has a base in Russia as well and used to frequently travel between India and that country. He has several criminal cases pending against him, and was active in Bengaluru’s real estate scene and had running disputes with many, including within his own family.

He was raided by Bengaluru police in connection with a drugs case in 2020 and was named in a case where miscreants had burnt down the car of a businessman in Sadashivanagar in 2021.

The same year, Rakesh Malli, a former associate of Muthappa Rai turned foe, filed a complaint alleging Rikki Rai and two Bengaluru-based rowdy-sheeters, Silent Sunil and Onte Rohith, had been trying to kill him.

Rakesh Malli has now been named as the prime suspect in the case of the attack on Rikki Rai, along with Muthappa Rai’s second wife, Anuradha, and the owners of real estate company Nitesh Estates.

Rikki Rai and his brother Rocky Rai, said to be based out of Canada, have been involved in a long property dispute with Anuradha, who challenged Rai’s will, which gave a lion’s share to his sons. After a long legal battle, they claimed to have reached an out-of-court settlement in 2024. However, the dispute still lingered, and cases were being fought over certain properties, sources said.

All angles being looked at

However, a senior police official said that though the complainant suspects these four persons, since it is an underworld case, the probe has an open mind and is looking at all possible angles and not restricting itself to probe only these four.