Bengaluru Underworld Don Muthappa Rai Passes Away After A Tough Fight With Brain Cancer

Muthappa Rai was not of the usual or ordinary type don, but educated and sophisticated unlike former gangsters of his time and initially worked as an official at a public sector bank Vijaya Bank.

Nettala Muthappa Rai (R), commonly known as Muthappa Rai, walks out of the Central Bureau of Investigation office in Bangalore after interrogation 30 May 2002. The United Arab Emirates extradited the 50-year-old wanted on charges of murder, extortion and illegal possession of explosives and firearms. Rai was arrested in Dubai 13 May for violating immigration laws. FILE PIC AFP

Bengaluru (Karnataka):  Muthappa Rai, a Bengaluru mafia don, who rose to prominence after killing his contemporary, passed away on Friday after giving a tough fight to cancer. The man who helmed the reins of a mafia don in Bengaluru for over 30 years was in his late 60s and was suffering from cancer. Reports say 68-year-old Rai, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2018, underwent treatment at various hospitals including Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru. He was not of the usual or ordinary type don but much educated and sophisticated unlike former dons such as MP Jairaj and Kothwal Ramachandra. He has a good family background and belonged to Mangaluru. The don was a commerce graduate who worked as an official at a public sector bank Vijaya Bank. He came into contact with the state’s underworld in the late 80s and claimed to popularity after killing the then don of Bengaluru, MP Jairaj. He managed to kill the then don in broad daylight in 1990 after which he jumped to the post of a mafia boss and there was no turning back since then. The infamous don managed to escape attempts on his life and he went on to form a stronghold in the city’s booming real estate post liberalisation. He appeared before the officials of the Organised Crime Wing in Bengaluru in 2018 after a video of his family performing rituals in front of arms had appeared in social media. The one-time mafia also held a press briefing to announce his deteriorating health conditions and confirmed about his illness. He was suffering from brain cancer and also mentioned that he is not afraid of death and living on will power. In fact the don was once attacked inside a city court when he appeared for a routine appearance in which five bullets had struck him. During Karnataka’s Assembly elections, a youth Congress leader Jayanth Rai was killed at office in Puttur in 1994. The leader was Rai’s right hand and because of the shock he moved his activities to Bengaluru after that. The don belonged to an upper-caste Bunt community in Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district. There are several Bollywood stars from the community such as Aishwarya Rai, Shilpa Shetty and Suniel Shetty. It is being joked that the Bunts are everywhere, from Miss World to Underworld which brings the limelight on the community’s enterprising skills and huge risk-taking nature.