Agni Sreedhar was an Indian gangster turned journalist, author and activist. He was active in the Bangalore underworld from the early 1980s to the late 1990s. He is the founder of Kannada weekly Agni. He has written several books and directed a Kannada film. He is the founder of the social work organization Karunada Sene.
Wiki/Biography
Agni Sreedhar aka Sreedhar Murthy was born in 1955 in Mynakanahalli, Channapatana, Karnataka (67 years old; as of 2022). He completed his education at Banumaiah High School, Mysore and came to Bangalore in 1974 to study law at Vokkaligara Sangha Law College. He was frail since childhood and practiced martial arts as a teenager to increase his physical strength. His friends and other students at school and college teased him about his appearance, and he often got into fights to show off his physical strength.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′ 9″
Weight (approximately): 65kg
Hair color: salt and pepper (semi-bald)
Eye color: black
family
Parents and siblings
His father’s name is Thammegowda and he is a primary school teacher. He has a brother named Basanth Kumar who served as deputy commissioner of police in 2017.
wife and children
His wife is Latha Sreedhar, an engineering graduate, and the couple has a daughter and a son. His daughter’s name is Ramya Sreedhar, who is a certified corporate trainer, transformation and life coach, motivational speaker, rapper and lyricist.
Agni Sreedhar and wife Latha Sreedhar
Agni Sreedhar and his daughter Ramya Sreedhar
address
His address is No.3/A, 9th ‘B’ Main Road, Prashanthi Nagara, ISRO Layout, Bengaluru-560078.
sign
Profession
rogue
During college, he actively participated in student political activities and received support from local professors. In 1979, some underworld goons Don Kotwal Ramachandra mistook his brother Basanth Kumar for someone else, attacked him, and interrupted his legs. When he went to the police, they refused to take any action and asked Agni to kill Don himself. This incident made him angry and he began to think of ways to avenge his brother’s beating by killing Kotwal. He started printing fake currency notes and befriended Sardar, a close associate of Kotwal. He joined Kotwal’s gang and acquired weapons for the gang. During this period, another underworld leader MP Jayaraj approached him to kill Kotwal. Agni agreed on a condition that his name should not be associated with the murder case and the underworld, to which Jayaraj agreed and told Agni that he would bear the murder charges. On the evening of March 22, 1986, Agni and his associates Syed Aman Bachchan alias Bachchan and Seetharam Shetty were in Tumku, Bangalore. Kotwal Ramachandra was murdered in a farmhouse near Allalasandra in Tumkur. He was arrested three months later after his aide Seetharam Shetty gave a statement to police containing details of Kotwal’s murder. He was imprisoned for 1 year and 8 months and was later released due to lack of evidence; however, the news of his arrest for the murder of Kotwal became public and his name spread among the underworld. In the late 1990s, he began to stay away from the underworld, and by the early 2000s, he completely stayed away from the underworld.
Old photo of Agni Sreedhar (wearing sunglasses) and his colleague Bachchan
journalist and author
He knew P. Lankesh, the editor of Lankesh Patrike magazine since the 1980s. In the late 1990s, he was looking for a new career to lead a civilized life, and when he learned about Lankash’s death in 2000, he founded a Kannada weekly called Agni. In his magazine, he wrote about different social issues such as politicians’ relationship with the underworld, education and the caste system. He wrote several books about his life and spirituality, which were well received by the public. His books include the autobiography Dadagiriya Dinagalu (in three parts) in 2006, My Time in Hell: The Rise of the Bangalore Mafia in 2013, Quantum Jagattu in 2014 and Gangster Song in 2019 .
Agni Sridhar’s old photos
Movie
While studying at the university, he played small roles in six Kannada films from 1974 to 1979. He started working in the Kannada film industry as a script writer, story writer, dialogue writer and director in the mid-2000s. His story is largely based on his life in the underworld and the lives of other bosses he met in the underworld. He won several awards for his screenwriting debut “Aa Dinagalu” released in 2007 and his directorial debut “Thamassu” released in 2010.
Agni Sreedhar (in red shirt) reads the film script
social worker
Agni Sridhar claimed in many interviews that he fell into a life of crime unintentionally and expressed a desire to serve the poor and needy. He is the founder of two NGOs, Karunada Sene and Nyayakkaagi Naavu. He organized several protests against the mining mafia in Karnataka.
dispute
Protest against Ramasenna’s moral policing
In 2009, he protested against Sri Ram Sena’s threats to couples celebrating Valentine’s Day in public. He opened a helpline and ensured protection of the couple from any attack.
Protest against Sri Sri Ravishankar’s Art of Living
In 2010, he claimed that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living organization was encroaching on farmers’ land to build ashrams. He also claimed that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s organization was conducting illegal activities at their ashram and that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was taking advantage of one of his disciples because he was jealous of the latter’s growing popularity. Welcome and posted a sex video of Nisenanda and a girl. Sri Sri Ravishankar has denied the allegations and claimed that he received extortion calls from an Agni number demanding $1 million. Ravi Shankar also threatened to file a defamation case worth Rs 50 crore against Agni first. Agni told a news conference that he was representing NRI member Paul Fernandez, whose 15 acres of land had been acquired by the Art of Living group for their monastery.
Slapped by the police in 2017
In March 2017, Agni Sreedhar lodged a complaint against Deputy Commissioner of Police Hemanth Nimbalkar and his team to Director General of Police and Inspector General of Police (DG-IGP) RK Dutta. Agni wrote in his complaint that Nimbarkar and his team searched his house during a raid and Nimbarkar accused him of having links with North Indian killers. slapped him. Shortly after the incident, he complained of chest pain and was taken to hospital. Doctors checked his condition and he was discharged.
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- Won the Karnataka Sahitya Academic Award for his autobiography Dadagiriya Dinagalu
- Karnataka Film Awards 2008 for Best Dialogue Screenplay
- 2008 Canfida Film Award for Best Dialogue Screenplay
- 2008 Udaya Film Award for Best Dialogue Screenplay
- 2008 Suvarna Film Award for Best Storytelling
- 2011 Kannada National Film Award for Best Screenplay
- In 2016, his book Quantum Jagattu won the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Book Award in the Science Category
assassination attempt
On July 1, 1997, a gangland thug and his rival Bannanje Raja and his associates fired several shots at his car. He was not in the car at the time; however, his colleagues Bacchan and Mehmood, who were traveling with the driver Srinivasa, were injured. His driver later died from his injuries.
Facts/Trivia
- He enjoys playing chess and was the South Indian Amateur Chess Champion in 1977.
- He likes to watch movies starring Bruce Lee.
- His mother was a very disciplinarian and would beat him if he cursed in front of her.
- Underworld Don Chota Rajan invited Agni Sreedhar to join his gang; however, Agni refused.
- He has diabetes and underwent two angioplasties in 2012.
- His father was called “Dharmaraya” because he avoided violence and always spoke the truth.
- Agni Sreedhar claimed in an interview that if he had not ventured into the underworld, he would have become an IAS or a journalist.
- Throughout his life, due to threats to his life, he did not go to a restaurant for 5 years and did not go to a movie theater for 20 years.
- He is a voracious reader and carries two books and two swords in his bag.
- When he was 14 years old, he found some documents and a matchbox containing two matchsticks outside the Mysore Palace. He burned the documents and some police found him. They told him to put down his matchbox and go home. His brother told this to his parents, who told him that they thought he wanted to burn down the palace to gain some notoriety. This incident made a deep impression on him.
- He has been influenced by Maoist philosophy since childhood and believes that violence can be used as a tool to change society.
- He claimed in an interview that D. Devaraj Urs, the chief minister of Karnataka from 1972 to 1977 and 1978 to 1980, gave political protection to gangsters, giving birth to Bengaluru Underworld.
- He was the guest speaker at the India Trade Awards held in October 2022 at Manpho Convention Center, Bengaluru.
- He donated the winnings from the film Thamassu to the family of cinematographer Sundarnath Suvarna.
- In January 2009, he turned down the Karnataka Film Academy’s award for best dialogue writing for the film Aa Dinagalu, saying he believed the film deserved better treatment from the judges.
- He said in an interview that he is a lover of Russian literature. In the same interview, he also revealed that his favorite authors are French philosopher, author, dramatist and journalist Albert Camus and Mexican writer and anthropologist Carlos Castañeda.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education