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

Rikki Rai's driver recounts shooting incident, suspecting hitman involvement; police probe multiple angles in the underworld case.

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.

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.