By Keefa Nuwahereza
The family of Kampala Mogul Sudhir Ruparelia woke to shock on Friday morning following a brutal attack against his son Rajiv Ruparelia, by men dressed on police attire.
According to credible sources, Rajiv survived being assassinated by a group of yet to be identified people said to be police or guards dressed like policemen, who attacked him early morning as he left his father’s residence to go jogging with his two dogs.
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It is said that as soon as he had walked a few meters from the gate, the guards in the neighbourhood heard him yelling for help and the dogs barking viciously.
Video footage obtained by this website shows unidentified men attacking Rajiv as he fights for his life, with the dogs trying to rescue him from the attackers, who were driving in a white van.
Preliminary investigations however indicate that the attackers were allegedly police guards attached to the home of a former Bank of Uganda official that lives in the neighbourhood and it is alleged that they tried to run over Rajiv using their van, only to be saved by his dogs, one of which they viciously wounded.
We have since learnt that the attackers who were dressed like police guards were driving at breakneck speed in the van when they attempted to run over Rajiv as he was jogging near his father’s house in Kololo.
However, Rajiv managed to outsmart them and quickly dashed out of the road, after which a scuffle ensued between him, them and the dogs.
Commenting about the nasty matter, Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson, Patrick Onyango confirmed the incident but said the matter was being handled by Kira police station.
“You mean the case at Kira police station, Let me get you details, Onyango said, before he hanged up.
When our reporter called Onyango’s deputy Fred Enanga for a comment, he said he hadn’t been briefed about the incident yet.
However, it should be noted that this deadly attack on Rajiv’s life comes at a time when the Ruparelia Family is currently involved in a bitter wrangle with Bank of Uganda, following the closure of Sudhir’s Crane Bank and its illegal sale to dfcu Bank by the central bank.
The illegal sale of Crane Bank to dfcu bank led to the exposure of untold rot the Central Bank and dubious dealings the Central Bank had engaged in during the sale of six other commercial banks.
Following the expose, then top BoU officials like former Deputy Governor Louis Kasekende, plus the former director for commercial banks supervision Justine Bagyenda among others were thrust in the eye of the storm after the Ruparelia family exposed their roles in the illegal closure of banks on top of exposing their obscene wealth which they had amassed through questionable means.
Matters worsened when tycoon Sudhir challenged BoU in a case it had filed against him on behalf of Crane Bank in Receivership, alleging that he and others had siphoned Shs397Bn from Crane Bank.
The High Court Commercial Division dismissed the case with costs last year, after ruling that BoU had no mandate to sue Suhir and Others on behalf of Crane Bank, which was already under receivership.
BoU officials appealed the case but still lost and they have since vowed to take the matter to the Supreme Court.
In the same vein, Sudhir also won another case he filed in court challenging the takeover of 49 properties belonging to Meera Investments, which dfcu Bank seized after buying Crane Bank.
Court ruled that the takeover was illegal and that dfcu Bank should vacate all the properties on top of compensating Meera Investments Limited for the losses they had incurred during the time of illegal occupation.
However, although the Ruparelia Family is yet to issue a statement about the attack, one wonders why of all people Bank of Uganda Police guards are the ones that wanted to knock Rajiv dead.
Watch this space for details!