Bengaluru journalist Ravi Belagere was arrested on Friday for hiring killers to kill his professional rival and former colleague Sunil Heggaravalli. The plot was busted before Heggaravalli came to any harm.

Belagere , the editor of Hai Bangalore tabloid, is one of the two journalists whose arrest had been ordered by the Karnataka Assembly but stayed by the Karnataka High Court.

Police said the case unravelled when they were looking for the killers of slain journalist Gauri Lankesh. The others arrested in this case are alleged contract killer Sashidhar Mundewadi of Vijayapura in north Karnataka and his associate Anoop Gowda alias Tahir.

The police are looking for Vijay Badiger, a cousin of Mundewadi. Two country-made 7.65 mm pistols were recovered from the alleged contract killers. Police were pursuing leads on reports that said a 7.65 mm gun was used to kill Lankesh and was sourced from Vijayapura. Police said they have not been able to able establish a link between the Lankesh murder and the Belagere case.

When keeping an eye on the Vijayapura gang, police realised that they were preparing for a contract killing in Bengaluru. The police then arrested Gowda/Tahir in Bengaluru and then Mundewadi. Belagere is said to have hired the alleged killers to settle a personal score while other versions say the rivalry was over the rights of a book on contract killers.