Bagalkot: Bagalkot police have cracked the July 21 car explosion case in Hipparagi village, revealing that gelatin sticks were used to blow up a vehicle in an alleged attempt to murder its owner, Hanumanth Athani, over a land dispute.Friday, SP Siddharth Goyal said Shivanand, Revanasiddappa, Mahadev and Mallikarjun have been arrested, while another accused, Gajanan, remains absconding.Police said the prime accused, Shivanand, is the nephew of Sangappa, whose land had been mortgaged to Hanumanth against a loan of Rs 40 lakh. When the loan was allegedly not repaid, Hanumanth reportedly transferred the land to his name.Angered by the loss of the land, Shivanand allegedly conspired to kill Hanumanth. Investigators said he and his associates used gelatin sticks to trigger the explosion, drawing on their knowledge of explosives used in well-digging activities.The accused had also allegedly threatened Hanumanth using a stolen SIM card. Police said the suspects were traced through information linked to the SIM.The investigation further led to the arrest of two men from Athani in Belagavi district and Kannur village in Vijayapura district, who allegedly sold the gelatin sticks to Shivanand, the SP said.
